Heads or Tails
by Dreamer Boy
Summary: Sonic gets murdered and the mystery killer frames Tails, sending the little fox on the run from both armed forces and his former friends. Can Tails prove he is innocent? Does anyone know he's innocent, other than the real killer? And who is the killer?
1. Chapter 1

**Hello fellow readers. Here's my first Sonic fanfiction - which not your average Sonic story. I came up with the storyline with some inspiration from Max Payne and The Lion King. So here is is for your reading pleasure - if you like reading dark stories.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog.**

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It had been eight months since the defeat of Dark Oak and the Metarex and the galaxy was once again at peace. Over on Mobius, Sonic was lying out on the cool green grass with his eyes closed, under a tree on top of a hill, soaking up the rays of the Sun. He had just run here and was now having a rest and enjoying the peace and quiet.

It did not last however, and the quiet sounds of the gentle breezes of the wind were interrupted by a voice he know only too well. "Hey Sonic!"

Surprised, Sonic sat up and opened his eyes to see Amy running up the hill towards him. "Amy? Where did you come from?"

Amy reached the top of the hill and stood beside him, smiling sweetly. "I followed you."

"Huh? How could you keep up with me?"

"Never mind that! Look at this!" It was then that Sonic noticed Amy was holding a roll-up baby blue piece of paper. She unrolled it and held it out in front of him. Sonic noticed it was a poster for a disco. It had a picture of animals dancing on a dance floor with brightly coloured disco lights. Below the picture, Sonic read:

"Stressed? Tired? Overworked? Then come expirence the party of a lifetime to enjoy how good it really is to be alive. Tonight at 8pm at the Mobius disco hall."

"Can we go Sonic?!" Amy begged sweetly, her green eyes sparkling. "Please? Please? Please?"

"Well, you can go!" Sonic chuckled, waving his hand. "There's nothing stopping you, so I dunno why you're asking me!"

"Because I want you to take me, Sonic!" Amy placed her hands on her hips and frowned.

Sonic looked at her blankly. Secretly, he really did want to take Amy to the disco. But he felt too embarrassed to be seen with her, as much as he secretly liked her. The others would surely tease him, due to the fact Amy had been chasing him for so long and now she would finally have him.

"Well?!" Amy tapped her foot impatiently.

Sonic placed his hand to his head and groaned. "Oh, I'd love to go, Amy. But on my way here, I fell and bumped my head! Ooh, this painful lump on my head is killing me!"

"Stop lying Sonic!" Then Amy suddenly pulled her Piko Piko Hammer out of nowhere and drew it back, glaring. "Or I'll certainly give you a painful lump on your head!"

"Argh! Amy! Put that hammer down!"

Amy kept the hammer drawn back. "Now, are you going to take me then?!"

"Okay, okay!!!" Sonic knew when he was beat. He could fight Eggman any day, but he couldn't fight an aggressive Amy. "I'll take you!!!"

"Thank you Sonic." Amy put her hammer away, smiled sweetly and winked at Sonic. Then she turned and walked down the hill. "Pick me up at my house, okay?"

"Er, yeah, sure. Bye Amy." Sonic raised his hand and watched as Amy walked down the hill.

"Gee," he exclaimed thoughtfully. "Amy sure is something."

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Later, Sonic had returned from the hill and was speeding back towards his house, when he stopped in his tracks as he passed Tails' house. He looked up at the lonely house and sighed. No one had gone in or come out for the house for the passed eight months. For Tails was the only one who had not gone back to normal after the events of Dark Oak. He had been and still was devastated over the death of Cosmo.

_Maybe I should invite him to the disco,_ Sonic thought. _It might do Tails good to get out of his house and be with us._

Sonic walked to the front door of Tails' house and rang the doorbell. No one answered. Sonic rang the doorbell again, but there was still no answer. Sonic opened the door and walked into the hallway. "Tails?!" He closed the door behind him and stood in the hallway. "Tails?!"

He walked into the lounge, and there he saw the fox who had once been his best friend, but had now sunk into depression and refused to talk to anyone. Tails was sitting on the couch, his back turned to Sonic. He had hardly noticed that his former best friend had walked into the house.

Sonic walked over to the sofa, smiling. "Hey buddy. Whatcha doing?" As he walked next to the couch, Sonic smiled fell, as he saw that Tails was holding onto the plant pot which held what had once been the seed that Sonic had given to Tails, but over the months, had grown into a lilac rose, it's petals seemingly giving off a glow.

"Uh, wow, Tails," Sonic stammered nervously. "That flower sure is getting, uh, pretty. You've done some good work on it, huh?"

"What do you want, Sonic?" Tails finally spoke, in an emotionless voice. He did not even look up at Sonic and kept his eyes glued to the plant.

"Uh, me and Amy are going out to a disco tonight. Do you, er, wanna come with us?"

Tails finally looked away from the plant and scowled at Sonic. He put the pot down on the coffee table in front of the couch and stood up, glaring at Sonic. "Oh! So you and Amy are going out together on a date, are you?"

"Well, um, it's not exactly a date-"

"Oh, isn't it?! Well, you're taking Amy, who I know you love-"

"Tails, I don't-"

"Don't deny it, Sonic! You love Amy and she loves you! So you're going together! Who am I supposed to take?" A tear leaked out of Tails' eye, but he held his frown. "Now that Cosmo's gone!"

"I know you're upset, Tails, but-"

"You know, you make me sick!" Tails' interrupted angrily. "Cosmo's dead - and you're going out to parties."

"Tails, it was eight months ago-"

"So?! What does time have to do with it?!"

"You have to get over it."

"GET OVER IT?!!!" Tails exploded furiously. "How do you expect me to get over losing someone I loved?!" Sonic opened his mouth to reply, but then Tails shut his eyes tight, shook his head furiously and pointed to the door. "Never mind! Just get out!"

"Tails..."

"_GET OUT!!!_" And Tails grabbed Sonic by the shoulders and pushed him through the lounge and hallway, opened the front door and pushed Sonic out, slamming the door behind him. Then Tails returned to the lounge, collapsed onto the couch, grabbed a cushion and cried into it. He didn't notice the flower, still sitting in its pot on the coffee table, giving off another glow.

Sonic stood outside Tails' front door, feeling surprised and a little hurt by how different his best friend now was from when they had met.

He turned away from the house and started to walk slowly away from it, but turned around and looked sadly back towards it. He did not notice someone coming walking behind him, but was taken by surprise when a hand dropped onto his shoulder.

And then a familiar voice spoke. "Hello Sonic."

Sonic shivered. He knew that voice, but it couldn't be who it belonged to. He turned around and gasped. "You?! It can't be you! You're dead!"

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**So who has Sonic seen? Is someone back from the dead. And who exactly? I'm not telling!**

**This isn't exactly a dark opening, but trust me, the story will get dark as it goes on. So stay tuned.**


	2. Chapter 2

"Me?! Dead?!" Shadow laughed. "If I were dead, would I be here talking to you?!"

Sonic stood where he was, speechless. Standing in front of him, was Shadow, who had seen sacrifice himself at the end of the final battle of the Meterex, using Chaos Control, with no possible way of surviving.

Shadow kept his eyes fixed on Sonic, giving him his dark smile which hadn't changed, and eventually, he tapped his foot with impatienence. "Well? Aren't you going to welcome your old friend back, Sonic?"

Sonic finally smiled and patted Shadow on the shoulder. "Hey! It's sure great to have you back, Shadow. But tell me, how did you survive that explosion?"

"Well, I used Chaos Control, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but that's what...killed you?"

Shadow chuckled darkly. "Oh, Sonic, you may be the fastest hedgehog around, but you're certainly not the smartest. Haven't you forgotten that we can use the Chaos Emeralds to teleport?"

"Oh yeah..."

"And that's what I did. I used all my energy to destroy the explosive seed, and got away in time by teleporting with Chaos Control. That's how I survived."

"So where have you been these past eight months?"

Shadow held his smile. "On the most annoying planet in the history of the galaxy, where these creatures known as Marmolians tried to get me to fall in love!"

Sonic laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "You've just been a victim to the annoying ways of the Marmolians on the planet Marmolim. I know how that feels. We visited it while we were journeying through space eight months ago. And they were trying to get me to fall in love with Amy! Honestly, they're more annoying than her!"

The two male hedgehogs shared a chuckle - and then Sonic froze as he heard the voice of the female hedgehog shout out. "Sonic! Did you just call me annoying?!"

Sonic looked back an panicked as he saw an angry Amy marching towards him. But fortunately for him, she froze and stared in surprise when she saw Shadow, who just smiled at her, although he gave her a nice friendly smile instead of the dark smile he usually gave Sonic. "Hello, Amy."

"Sh-Sh-Shadow?" Amy remarked quietly, raising her hand and pointing at the black hedgehog. "You're a-a-"

"Alive," finished Shadow calmly.

"B-But..." Amy continued to stutter timidly. "H-How-"

"It doesn't matter. I'm just back." Shadow walked towards Amy and placed his hands on her shoulders. "I've missed you, Amy." He pulled her into a hug. Amy blushed and felt a little shaky, but she smiled and hugged her friend back. Sonic watched and couldn't help but grit his teeth with a slight urge of anger, though he didn't know why.

Once Amy broke the hug, Sonic zipped over to them and smiled nervously. "So, er, Amy, you asked if I said I found you annoying?"

"That right, Sonic." Amy frowned.

"Well, I didn't. Otherwise, I wouldn't be taking you to the disco tonight."

"Disco?" remarked Shadow curiously.

"There's a disco going on down at the disco hall tonight," Amy explained.

"Say, d'ya wanna come with us Shadow?" asked Sonic.

Shadow thought for a moment, and smiled. "No thanks. I've got other things to do."

"Still not exactly fun, are you?" Amy huffed, placing her hands on her hips.

"I guess not. Well, I'll see you later." And Shadow sped away.

"Yeah, see ya Shadow!" Sonic waved and watched Shadow disappear. Then he turned to Amy. "Well, I'll be going home to get ready. I'll pick you up later, Amy."

"Okay. Bye Sonic." Amy watched Sonic race off, waving her hand happily.

When Sonic was finally out of sight, Amy just stood where she was, sighing and smiling dreamily. Then she realised she was standing outside Tails' house and spotted him through the lounge window, placing the flower pot on the window, then disappearing from view. He hadn't notice Amy, but had she noticed that he had a sad expression on his face. Knowing why he was looking so miserable, Amy felt sorry for the little fox and walked to the front door of his house.

She rang the door bell, and was greeted with an angry voice calling from inside the house. "Go away, Sonic!"

Amy opened the front door. "Tails, it's me! Amy!" She walked into the hallway, closed the door and walked into the lounge, where she saw Tails lying face down on the couch. She walked over to him, sat down on the arm of the couch and ran a hand down his back.

"Tails...are you alright?"

"What does it look like?" came the miserable response.

Amy sighed unhappily. "Tails...I know how you're feeling-"

"No you don't." Tails raised his head and looked sadly up at Amy. "You don't have any idea how I'm feeling Amy. You don't know how devastating it is to lose someone you love."

Amy remained silent.

"What if you lost Sonic? How would you feel?"

"I...I would be heartbroken."

"Yes, you would. That's how I'm feeling now, because I've lost Cosmo. You love Sonic - and I know he loves you." Tails sniffed and raised a hand to wipe his eyes. "I don't think you realise how lucky you are to have someone who loves you, Amy. Though Sonic won't admit it, I know he does. Never take the people who love you and who you love back for granted, Amy. You just never know when you'll lose them."

Tails let his head fall so that he was once again lying face down on the couch. Amy said nothing. She just sat on the arm of the couch for a few seconds more, looking sadly down at Tails. Then she stood up, walked quietly out of the lounge and through the hallway, out of the front door, closing it behind her, then made her way home to get ready for the disco.

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**I was planning to carry on writing here, but have decided to wait for the next chapter, even though that means the next chapter could turn out to be very short, but we'll see.**

**The story will kick into plot soon. Even though Tails is the main protagonist of the story, so far, it's focused more on Sonic and Amy, although their appearances are very important in the story. Nothing dark is really happening, since the story so far, has taken place on a bright day. But when the night rolls in, the story will soon turn as dark as the night itself...**


	3. Chapter 3

**Right, here's Chapter Three, where things are mostly normal - but not throughout...**

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That evening, just after dark, Sonic made his way quickly over to Amy's house. He hadn't made any effort during the day to make himself look fancy for the disco and was looking just the same as normal.

He sped though the dark surroundings of the route to his house to Amy's, approached her front door and rang the bell. To his surprise, Amy immediately answered. She too didn't look as if she made any effort to look like she was going to a disco.

"Whoa!" Sonic exclaimed with surprise. "You're getting as fast as I am, Amy. Either that, or you were just waiting for me by the door."

Amy looked at Sonic from top to bottom, an annoyed expression on her face. "Sonic! How can you let yourself go to a disco like that?"

"Whadda mean?" asked Sonic, offended. "This is how I always look. You know that, Amy."

"I was expecting you to dress up and wear plenty of deodorant, making yourself look really fancy."

"Well, you don't seem to have done that either." Sonic pointed at Amy's red dress which she always wore.

"What are you talking about Sonic?! This is a new dress!"

"Really? Well it looks the same as the one you always wear."

"No it doesn't! It's very different from my normal dress."

"And anyway, you're having a go at me for not putting on deodorant. I can't smell your perfume."

"Well, I was just about to put it on," huffed Amy. "Before you showed up!"

"Well, sorry!" Sonic groaned, turning away. "Maybe I should leave you to put it on and-"

"Oh no, it's okay!" Amy stepped out of the house and closed the front door behind her. "Sorry, Sonic. Let's not argue. Let's have a nice night! I can't wait."

Sonic began to walk away from Amy's house and Amy walked alongside him. She smiled and held onto his arm, but then sniffed, and quickly let go. A disgusted expression crept upon her face. "Seriously, Sonic. You really should have put on deodorant."

"Hey!" Sonic chuckled. "It's very rare that I ever work up a sweat when I'm running!"

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They arrived at the town where the disco hall was in twenty minutes. The town was right now very busy. Cars and pedestrians were making their way up and down the streets.

They soon came to the disco hall, which looked just like a fairly small ordinary building on the outside, but seemed bigger on the inside once they walked though the double doors. The room was lit up by multi-coloured disco lights. Hanging from the centre of the ceiling of the room was a rotating silver disco ball. Loud rock music was being played by a DJ in one corner of the room. Alongside the left wall of the room was a bar. Around the room were several tables and chairs where people were sitting, and in the centre was a wooden dance floor. Only four dancers were on the dance floor and Sonic and Amy immediately recognised them as Knuckles, Rouge, Cream and Cheese.

"Hey guys!" Amy called out excitedly, waving to them. She grabbed SOnic by the arm and ran over to the dance floor to where they were. They all looked pleased to see them.

"Hi, Amy!" Cream exclaimed happily. "Good to see you here!"

"Chao!" agreed Cheese.

"Thanks, Cream," smiled Amy. "D'you like my new dress?"

"Why yes," replied Cream. "It looks beautiful."

"I'll say," added Rouge. "It's way better than your old one."

Sonic and Knuckles looked and the girls admiring Amy's dress and both shared a chuckle. Then they turned to one another.

"Hey, Sonic," smiled Knuckles. "So Amy managed the drag you here, then?"

"Yeah. I couldn't fight her off."

"Well, that's because you're not like me," said Knuckles smugly. "If she tried to get me to take her, I'd-"

"You'd what, Knuckles?" Amy interrupted, looking up at Knuckles and glaring at him.

"Uh...nothing, Amy!" Knuckles replied nervously, feeling quite taken aback. Amy folded her arms and held her frown.

"C'mon, Knucky," said Rouge sultry, holding out out her hand. "Let's go dance."

"Are you to coming to dance to?" Cream asked Sonic and Amy.

"We will soon, Cream," replied Amy. "Right now, Sonic's gonna buy me a drink. Aren't you, Sonic?"

"Err...right," said Sonic nervously, rubbing the back of his head and grinning widely. He led Amy through the tables around the room, and they eventually found an empty one. Sonic sat in one of the chairs, but Amy remained standing up. She placed her hands on her hips, looking annoyed.

Sonic looked at her puzzled. "Well, aren't you gonna sit down. It's better than standing up when there's a chair nearby."

"Sonic," sighed Amy huffily. "You're supposed to pull a chair out so I can sit in it."

"Really? Well, why don't you pull a chair out yourself? You're capable of doing that."

"Sonic...!"

"Okay, okay! I'll do it for you." Sonic got to his feet, stood behind the chair nearest Amy and pulled back from the table.

"Thank you, Sonic. You're such a gentleman." Smiling sweetly, Amy walked in front of the chair, got into a sitting position - then cried out as she fell backwards onto the floor.

"Amy, I thought you wanted a chair." Sonic looked down at her. "Why are you sitting on the floor?"

"Sonic!" Amy stood up and looked at Sonic, fuming. "You pulled the chair back too far - oh, never mind!" She sat in the chair and pulled herself towards the table. She looked very annoyed.

"I'll...go get those drinks," stammered Sonic, and he sped off to the bar alongside one wall of the room. There was no one else being served, so it wasn't long before a yellow dog barman came over to Sonic."

"Hi!" Sonic greeted the barman politely. "I'd like two drinks please. One for me and one for the girl over there." He looked over towards Amy. She smiled when she saw him looking at her and waved.

"Certainly. What would you like?" asked the barman. "Wine? Cheery? Champagne?"

Sonic turned back to the barman, thought for a moment, then finally asked; "D'you have any small bottles of cola please?"

The barman, puzzled, nodded, then reached out behind the bar and pulled out two small bottles of cola and placed them on the bar. "That'll be fifty cents please."

"Okay." Sonic reached into his fur, then pulled out a fifty cents coin and placed it on the bar. Then he picked up the two bottles and walked back to Amy. She looked pleased to see him back, but when he placed one of the bottles of cola in front of her, she picked it up and frowned.

Sonic sat down in his own chair, unscrewed the bottle top of his own bottle and took a long sip of cola. "I sure do love cola. It gives me plenty of energy to run. Not to mention it's cheap."

Amy frowned, placed her own bottle on the table, then smiled. "I think we should should have that dance now, Sonic?"

"Really?" replied Sonic, going to take another sip from his bottle.

"Yes. C'mon." Amy got to her feet, stood behind Sonic, pulled him up (making him drop his bottle and spilling his cola) and dragged him to the dance floor, where Knuckles was dancing hand in hand with Rouge to the loud rock music that was playing, while Cream was happily spinning on the spot with Cheese in her arms.

Amy led Sonic onto the dance floor and let go of him. Sonic began kicking out and waving his arms about, doing some very silly dance moves, much to the annoyance of Amy. "Oh, Sonic, you call that dancing?"

Sonic stopped swaying about. "Uh...yeah?"

"No! This is dancing!" Amy took hold of Sonic hands and started swinging them, moving her feet to the rhythm of the music. Sonic followed her feet. Amy led them dacing around the floor for a few moments, then one of her hands let go of Sonic's and, still holding onto his other hand with her own other hand, twirled around. When she was facing him again, she placed her hand on his shoulder. "Put your hand on my back."

Sonic did as she told him, then Amy began walking backwards. Sonic, still holding onto her followed. Then they both stopped, and Amy told Sonic; "Dip me!"

Sonic lowered Amy down towards the dance floor, so that she was lying in his arms, looking up at him.

Amy smiled and giggled. "You're such a good dancer, Sonic."

"Uh...thanks." Just then, the song that was being played by the DJ stopped and new song came one. "Well, enough of that," remarked Sonic, and he let go of Amy. She cried out as she fell backwards onto the floor for the second time that night. She sat up and the dance floor and frowned at Sonic, who didn't notice her and instead, began doing silly dance moves again with Knuckles. Amy stood up and marched over to the table she and Sonic were at and sat down, disappointedly watching Sonic making silly dance moves with Knuckles and Rouge twirling Cream with Cheese happily flying around.

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Two hours later, Sonic was still dancing with the others, except Amy, who was still sitting at the table, sulking, when Sonic stopped dancing. "Well, I'm gonna go now. I'm feeling tired. I'll see you guys."

"Okay. Bye Sonic," replied Cream. Then she and the others watched as Sonic walked over to the table where Amy was at, holding her head up with her arms, a blank look on her face.

"I'm going now, Amy. I've had a good time. See ya!"

"Yeah, bye, Sonic." Amy remarked without looking at him. Sonic then walked to the entrance of the disco hall and into the night.

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Soon, Sonic found himself walking in one of the loneliest places he had ever been. He was walking down a street which been abandoned years ago. A road went down it, and on the opposite side were Sonic was walking were old houses with broken windows and crumbling brickwork.

Sonic walked along the pavement, alongside the tall fence that ran alongside him, made of rotten wood work with holes in. The wind howled and Sonic shivered. It hadn't been very cold when he was making his way to the disco hall.

There was a streetlamp up ahead on the pavement. Sonic walked over to it, listening to the sound of his own footsteps, then stopped beside the streetlamp. He listened out.

Silence.

Then suddenly, Sonic heard footsteps. But they were not his own - he wasn't walking. They were coming from behind him. Someone was running towards him. It wasn't until that someone was right behind them when Sonic looked back.

Then he screamed.

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At the very same time, Amy was up her feet on the dance floor of the disco hall. She was dancing again and feeling much happier. Being so far away from Sonic and only hearing the music that was being played, she didn't hear the sounds of Sonic screaming, which was followed quickly by the sound of a knife cutting into his flesh. After that came the sound of blood trickling, and quickly following that was a dull thud as he fell to the pavement.

The final sounds which concluded the scene of murder was the attacker's footsteps as he walked away from what he had done.

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**So, this chapter was mostly typical moments of Sonic annoying Amy - but that didn't last as someone has now done the unthinkable to Sonic. Even though you obviously knew in advance Sonic was gonna die, having read the summary, I apologize if Sonic's death upset you, which I hope it hasn't. Upsetting my readers is the last thing I aim for. I hope you don't think of me as a twisted evil person. I'm just someone who likes to write.**

**Now, this is where you're gonna wonder "Whodunnit?!" Well, I can't say, because that's the mystery. As you do read on the story, I expect you'll start to suspect some characters. Well, in the reviews, you can say that you have an idea, but please don't say the name of your suspect, in case you get it right and it spoils it for other readers. However, after I write the chapter which comes before the killer is revealed, I'm gonna put up a poll on my profile so you can vote who you think the killer is. It's be interesting to see who you suspect.**

**Well, enough of my jibber jabber now! Hee hee! Now that the unthinkable has happened, the main action in the story will kick off in the next chapter. So stay tuned...**


	4. Chapter 4

**Here's Chapter Four, where we can finally get to the main plot of the story. Now that Sonic is finally out of the way (Hee hee! That sounded so evil of me! :P), we can now focus on Tails, who has been featured very little in the story, and wasn't even in the last chapter. Okay, let's fire away.**

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Over at his house, Tails was in his bedroom, watering the flower, which sat on the window sill. Tails. held the watering can he was holding above the flower, letting the tiny little drops of water sprinkle over the flower.

Tails then set the watering can down on the window sill, then examined the soil, then reached down and picked up the plant food box that was sitting on the floor. The top of it was open, so he held it about the flower and turned it over, but no plant food came out.

"I'll have to go to the all-night supermarket in town," sighed Tails. He set the empty plant food box on the window sill, then walked out of his room. As he walked down the stairs, he stopped halfway and looked through tearing eyes at the picture that hung on his wall, of him and his friends at the party that Cosmo had arranged on the Blue Typhoon. There she was, standing amongst all their friends. It was back when times were happier. Back when Cosmo was alive.

Tails gazed at the picture, or more specifically, Cosmo, for a few seconds more. Then, wiping his eyes, he walked down the rest of the stairs and out of his front door. He had meant to go into his workshop next to his house and travel to town in the X Tornado. But seeing Cosmo in the picture had gotten him so upset, Tails forgot about how he intended to travel. All that was on his mind was the kind-hearted plant girl who had thought herself to be worthless, but was actually very beautiful and had a huge heart, which had now stopped beating. So Tails just walked away from his house, lost in his thoughts which brought pain to his heart.

As he walked along, he passed Cream's house. Vanilla, who was inside, saw him though on of the downstairs windows. She opened it and called out to Tails. "Hello, Tails dear!"

Tails, however, didn't appear to hear her, and therefore, showed no reaction and instead, kept walking. Vanilla sighed and withdrew from the window, closing it. She knew why Tails was acting so depressed and felt very sorry for him. But she couldn't worry about Tails for long, as she glanced at the clock in the room. "Half past ten! Oh dear! I told Cream and Cheese to be back by ten, I hope they're alright. I don't like them being out late at night this late!"

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Later, Tails arrived into town. There wasn't many people and cars about now, but as he walked down the street where the disco hall was, he could hear the loud music inside and he could see the disco lights lighting up the outside. He stopped outside the double doors and poked his head through them disgustedly. He expected to see Sonic, Amy and the others dancing away, having forgot about Cosmo. But he only spotted Amy inside, dancing happily on the wooden dance floor. Sonic and the others were nowhere in sight, so Tails decided they must have left. Not at all impressed at how happy Amy looked, Tails withdrew from the double doors and walked on to the all-night store.

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Soon, Tails was wandering though the garden section of the all-night supermarket, looking for a box of plant food. As he looked among the shelves of one aisle, he was horrified to see pairs on garden shears on sale_. How could anybody be so cruel as to cut_ _up plants_? he thought angrily_. Do they realize that by doing that, they are killing the plants_?! He looked down at his feet sadly. _It isn't only the Sonic Driver that kills plants._

Feeling a surge of anger, Tails picked up all the garden shears on the shelf and angrily threw them down onto the marble floor. The shears made a loud clattering noise as they hit the floor. Tails then continued looking for a box of plant food, and almost immediately found one sitting on a shelf. He picked it up and began walking away down the aisle. At that moment, a brown gopher dressed in a security guard's uniform came running up on the other end of the aisle, having heard the sound of the shears clattering. He spotted them all on the floor, then looked up and saw Tails walking away. "Oi you! Did you do that?!"

Tails ignored him and continued walking down the aisle.

"Hey!" The security guard ran forward after Tails. "I'm talking to you!" Then he suddenly cried out as he tripped over the pile of shears and fell on his front onto the marble floor. He lay there, groaning in pain, as Tails walked away from the garden section.

Tails arrived at the check-out, behind which stood a penguin. She smiled when she saw Tails, he showed no change of expression. He approached the check-out and handed the box of plant food to the penguin, who then scanned the box code on the box and then read the price on the cash register. "Three dollars and twenty-five cents, please."

Tails reached into his fur and pulled out some money which he then handed to the penguin. "How much do garden shears cost?"

"Seven dollars and fifty cents," replied the penguin, putting the money in the cash register. "Would you like to buy some?"

"NO!" Tails burst out, taking the penguin by surprise. "I only asked, because I wanted to know how much someone would pay for something that kills plants. At that price, I am shocked. But I wouldn't take garden shears even if they were for free!" He snatched up the box of plant food, turned about and walked away. "I buy things that helps plants live, not stuff that kills them!"

The penguin said nothing. She just watched as Tails walked out of the automatic doors near the check-out. After he had left, the gopher security guard came and stood by the check-out.

"I've just had a strange little kid over here just now, Harry," exclaimed the penguin. "Ranting about garden shears."

"Really? Was he a little yellow fox with two Tails?"

"Yes. Have you seen him?"

"I'm aching all over, because of him. I tripped over the garden shears which he had thrown off the shelves in the garden section."

The penguin looked back towards the doors which Tails had walked out of. "He certainly was a strange little fellow, wasn't he?"

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**Again, I would have continued writing here, but I guess I'm just lazy! :P And perhaps what I write next might go better added with what comes after it, rather than concluding this chapter. Nothing especially dark here. Just Tails doing some shopping and still acting depressed and moody. Sorry to keep you waiting, but I hope you are enjoying all the same.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Here's what was to be added with the previous chapter, but just on it's on rather than coupled with what follows it. Here's where things now change, not only for Tails, but for everyone.**

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Tails, still in a rage about the garden shears, did not concentrate on where he was going as he walked away from the all-night supermarket. At first, he walked through town along the same route as the one which had lead him to the supermarket, but a short while after he passed the disco hall (inside which, the disco was still going on), without realising, Tails headed away from the route he had taken, and instead, walked down the abandoned street which Sonic had walked down earlier that night.

Tails walked down the old street, not taking any notice of the old abandoned houses on the opposite side of the road, the darkness, or any other features which gave the place a creepy look.

But as he approached the single lamppost that stood on the pavement which he was walking along, something - or rather, some_one_, grabbed his attention, causing him to freeze.

He could see someone lying on their back near the lamp post. It looked as if something was sticking out of their chest. It didn't take Tails long to realise they were dead. But as walked closer to get a better look, he gasped in horror, for as he got closer, the corpse began to look familiar in the light even off by the lamp post. Although their chest was red with blood, they appeared to be mostly blue.

"Oh no! Please no!"

Tails dropped the box of plant food he was carrying, frantically ran forward, and then burst into tears when he saw that the corpse was none other than Sonic.

"Sonic! No! Please!" Tails collapsed to his knees and cried fitfully. He took hold of Sonic's shoulders and began to shake his fallen friend. "Sonic! Get up! You're not dead! Please! Get up!" But Sonic didn't get up. There was nothing Tails could do. He just cradled Sonic's head in his arms and sobbed hard.

A long moment of crying past. Tails soon stopped sobbing, but tears still leaked out of his eyes. He placed Sonic's head back down on the hard pavement. His gloves were stained with Sonic's blood. Tails, distraught, looked at the body. It was then he noticed a knife sticking out of Sonic's chest. Next to being shot by the Sonic Driver, Tails couldn't think of a worse way to die.

Wanting to have a closer look at the weapon that had killed his friend, Tails took hold of the handle and tugged hard on it. It didn't come free straight away, for the blade embedded so deep inside Sonic's chest. But with an effort, Tails pulled hard and the knife came free, the sound of the blade scrapping against Sonic's flesh. Tails held the weapon above the hole in Sonic's chest, the blade facing down. The blade measured about nine centimetres and was mostly red with blood. A tiny drop fell from the end of the blade and fell into the hole in Sonic's chest.

Tails looked away from the murder weapon, still holding it, and gazed miserably at his fallen friend. "Sonic...I'm so sorry I treated you horribly. You're the best friend I ever had. And now...I've lost Cosmo...and you."

Just then, Tails heard footsteps in front of him. Someone was coming towards him and Sonic. Tails, still looking at Sonic, listened. The sound of footsteps came closer, and when whoever was coming towards them was a little further away from them, they stopped.

Tails looked up, but did not have time to see who it was, for the moment he looked in the direction of the person, he was blinded by a sudden flash of a camera, held by the other person. He rubbed his eyes for a moment, trying to get them to recover, and also to wipe away the tears that were building up inside. When he finally opened his eyes, he saw that the other person had disappeared. He looked all around the street, but they were nowhere to be seen. So Tails just looked back at Sonic and continued to cry over his friend.

Then, Tails heard footsteps again - this time, coming from behind him. Then he heard Amy's voice. "Tails? What are you doing?"

He looked back towards her and she came running up to where he was. Then, when she saw Sonic, she let out a horrified gasp. "_SONIC!!! NO!!!" _And she collapsed to her knees and cried hard into her hands.

Tails watched her cry, and sympathetically rubbed her back. But she didn't seem to notice. Just like Tails had done, she grabbed hold of Sonic's shoulders and shook him frantically. "Sonic! Get up! Stop fooling Sonic! Get up! Please-!"

"It's too late, Amy," sighed Tails miserably. "He's dead."

Amy let go of Sonic and continued to cry softly into her hands, as Tails continued to rub her back. She took her hands away from her green eyes which were sparkling with tears and devastatingly looked at Tails. "What happened to him, Tails?"

"Somebody murdered him, Amy," Tails told her. He showed her the blood stained knife. "Stabbed him in the heart."

Amy's lower lip trembled and she began sobbing again. "And they've done the same to me!" She picked up Sonic's body and hugged him tight.

Tails rubbed her back once again and looked around the abandoned street. "Let's get out of here, Amy. I don't like this place. It may not be safe. Let's take Sonic somewhere more comfortable.

"Okay," sniffed Amy miserably, calming down a bit. "We'll take him back to my place."

Amy picked up Sonic by lifting him up by his arms and then holding him up by standing behind him and wrapping her arms around his middle. He was very heavy. Tails offered to carry him, but she refused, wanting to hold him tight. So, struggling to carry Sonic, but not giving him up, Amy began to walk out of the abandoned street. Tails followed, unkowningly still holding onto the knife that had killed his friend. They left the crime scene, leaving only behind the box of plant food which sat on the pavement, and a puddle of blood.

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**I'm gonna now take my time when updating the story, as suggested by some people over the reviews. I'll now try to upload a chapter every two days. Sorry if that disappoints you, but I don't want to ruin this story by rushing. I know I'll definately need to take my time when thinking about the chain of events which occur over the story, taking up the majority of it. The funny thing is that sometimes when I write a story, I update too slow. But for this one, I've been doing it too fast. :P**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys. I took a bit of a break, so as not to bug and tire you guys with my daily updates. So now I'm back on the job. Here's Chapter Six.**

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Amy, with Tails following close behind, managed to carry Sonic's mangled body to her house. She struggled to try to open the front door while carrying Sonic, so she gave Tails the key, and he unlocked the door with his one free hand, while the other hand was still holding on the knife without him realising.

Once the front door was unlocked, Tails opened it and walked inside. Amy followed, carrying Sonic, and they walked into the lounge, where Amy lay Sonic onto the couch and made him comfortable. She knelt by his body, tears leaking out of her eyes. Tails knelt beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder, and looked miserably at his best friends body.

For a while, neither of them spoke. They just stayed as still as statues in silence, looking at Sonic. Then finally, Amy miserably lowered her head before speaking. "Go ahead, Tails. Say it."

Tails looked at her, puzzled. "Say what, Amy?"

"Now you know how it feels to lose someone you love," Amy sobbed. "Go on, Tails. Say it. I know you really want to."

Tails stood up, but kept his hand placed on her shoulder. "No, Amy. I'm not gonna say it. Because it is terrible to lose someone you love. I know - I've experienced it - and I'm sorry to see that you've had to as well."

Amy gazed miserably up at Tails, then stood up. "Thank you, Tails." She then put her arms around him and hugged him tight. "And I'm sorry that you've had to experience it too. You're so nice. You don't deserve to experience it."

Tails hugged Amy back, but only with his free arm. His other arm just dangled by his side, still holding onto the blood stained knife that had gone into Sonic's chest and killed him. Tails had forgotten about and right now, was only concerned about Amy. "Neither do you, Amy."

Amy continued to embrace Tails and cry on his shoulder for about half a minute, then eventually looked up at the clock on the lounge wall. "Eleven o'clock! The news will be on TV now. Let's see if it will be about Sonic."

She broke the embrace and sat in one of the two armchairs in the room. While Tails went to sit in the other, Amy picked up the remote control resting on one of the arms of her chair and turned on the TV. As none of the lights in the house were turned on, the TV lit up the lounge. On the screen, a spinning Mobius was seen, while a theme tune was playing. Mobius soon stopped spinning and on the bottom of the screen, came the letters 'M', 'W' and 'N', in blue, standing for 'Mobius Wide News'.

The camera then cut to a news room, where a brown cat newsreader was sat, holding on sheets of paper, looking towards the camera. "Good evening," she said. "Here is the Mobius Wide News."

She went on to give brief summaries for the upcoming stories. No mention of Sonic was given, so Amy, slightly annoyed, picked up the remote, and was about to switch off the TV, when the newsreader said; "On tonight's top story, it is a dangerous time for Mobiens everywhere, due to the murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, which occurred earlier tonight."

Amy placed the remote back down the arm of the chair and she and Tails watched in silence.

"Sonic the Hedgehog had been stabbed in the chest, in an abandoned street near Mobius High Town. The fugitive has been confirmed. An unnamed witness spotted the culprit just after he had killed his victim, with the murder weapon still in his hand. The witness reported him and was even able to provide a picture of him doing his criminal work. And right now, the M.P.D. are in pursuit...of Miles Prower."

"_WHAT?!!!!!_"

Tails and Amy let out surprised and horrified gasps in disbelief. In pursuit of Miles Prower? They thought _Tails_ had killed Sonic? Tails shook in head frantically. They had got in wrong. Tails had _found _Sonic dead. It was horrible enough to find him dead - but to be accused of killing him...

The terrible moment for Tails only got worse. On the TV, the camera cut, but the newsreader could still be heard giving her story. Tails and Amy were not listening however. They were staring at the screen in ever-increasing horror. For on the screen was a still image of Sonic lying on the pavement in the abandoned street. And kneeing over him, holding the knife, blade facing down, above the hole in Sonic chest, with his blood-standed gloved hand, and staring at the camera with a surprised expression, was Tails.

Tails stared and the screen in disbelief. For a moment, he was trying to figure out who had taken the picture of him. Then he remembered the person who had arrived shortly before Amy. That person had taken a picture of him. It must have been then who provided this horrible image on screen. Then it hit Tails; that someone must have been the killer - and they had decided to frame Tails. Tails knew it.

But the trouble was, though he and killer knew he was innocent and not really a murderer, the rest of Mobius, who was watching the news now, didn't.

Tails gulped and turned to Amy. She was still staring in horror at the image on the screen. "Amy..."

Amy then suddenly turned sharply towards Tails. The horrified expression remained on her face. "Tails..." she said quietly. Tails felt his blood run cold.

"Tails..." Amy said again quietly. Slowly, she raised her arm. Then, her horrified expression changed to an angry one. She sharply pointed at Tails, and then screamed louder than she ever had before; "_YOU KILLED SONIC!!! MURDERER!!!"_

Tails jumped to his feet and backed away, panicking. Amy angrily got to her feet and walked towards him, her eyes full of fire. "Why, Tails?!" she hissed. "_WHY?!_"

"Amy...!" Tails cried out, frightened. "You gotta listen to me! I didn't do it-!"

Before he could finish, Amy ran right up to him and slapped him hard across the face. "Don't you dare," she spat. "Don't you DARE lie you didn't do it! You were right there on the news, in that picture! You had just killed Sonic!"

"No, Amy! I-!"

"Why did you do it, Tails! No! Don't tell me! I know why! It was because you wanted to teach me what it's like to lose someone you love!" Tears began leaking out of Amy's eyes again. Tails, despite being accused by her for what he hadn't done, did feel sorry for her. But she continued to scream at him. "Well?! Are you happy now! Happy that my heart is broken as well as your's! I loved Sonic! You knew that...AND YOU KILLED HIM!!!"

"No, Amy! I was framed-!"

"_FRAMED?!_" Amy laughed nastily. "Oh, that's a good one! I wish it were true!"

"It is-"

"_LIES!!!" _Amy hollered. "You're full of lies, Miles Prower! But you won't lie your way out of this one! Because all of Mobius now knows; Miles Prower is a murderer, and had killed his best friend, Sonic the Hedgehog. The picture was right there. You had seconds ago done your work, and the knife was still in your hand!"

It was then that Amy noticed that Tails was still holding the knife in his hand. She pointed at his and let out a terrified scream. "And you're still holding it now!!!"

Tails looked down it his dangling arm which was still holding onto the knife. Now realising he had been holding onto it for so long and terrified of it, Tails cried out and let go of it. It landed with a clang as it his the wooden flooring of Amy's lounge. Tails looked pleadingly back at Amy. "Amy, please! I didn't kill Sonic!"

But Amy slapped Tails hard across the face again. Tails placed his hand on the red mark on the face, where Amy's hand had stuck him twice. He continued to look at Amy, surprised and sad, eyes full of tears.

"Get out," whispered Amy quietly. She stood where she was, gasping frantically. Tears ran down her face again.

"Amy, please..."

"_GET OUUUUUT!!! MURDEREEEEERRR!!!"_

Amy was still screaming as Tails scampered out of the door to her lounge, out through the hallway, out of the front door to her house and towards his own. Once Amy stopped screaming, she went over to the phone, which was stilling on a round wooden table in a corner in the room, snatched up the receiver and dialed the number for the Mobius Police Department.

After a moment of ringing, a woman's voice answered. "M.P.D."

"Yes, yes. Are you sending police out to arrest the murderer to killed Sonic the Hedgehog."

"Yes, ma'am. Plenty of police forces are searching for him as we speak. So don't worry."

"Well I can tell you where he is!" Amy gave Tails' address. "Send your men there. Arrest him, lock him up and through away the key! Please. He killed..." Amy began sobbing again, dropped the receiver and fell to her hands and knees. "He killed my Sonic..."

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**Well, this is where the story kicks into plot. Tails has been accused and is wanted for murder - but we all know he didn't do it. ;)**

**I'm gonna have to put a lot of thought towards the next chapters, since they're supposed to contain action, which is what all murder mystery stories contain. Unfortunately, I'm not good at writing action-filled scenes, but I hope what I write in future chapters will continue to entertain you.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Here's the new chapter, which contains a bit of action. I say a bit, because it doesn't contain that much. Just what I need for this part really.**

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Tails ran along the route towards his house, rapidly shaking his head in disbelief. He wouldn't kill Sonic and he didn't. Indeed, Tails had said some cruel things to him that morning, but it wouldn't have driven him to take Sonic's life. But Tails had to stop telling himself what he knew, and he had to convince the whole world that didn't know and thought he was a cold-blooded killer.

Tails was so lost in his worried thoughts, he didn't look where he was going and knocked into Knuckles, sending them both falling to the ground, landing on their backs. Tails was the first of them to jump back to their feet and was about to run off again, but Knuckles stood in his way and grasped his right arm tight. Tails cried out and attempted to pull away, but it was no good. Knuckles was too strong.

"Oh no you don't," growled Knuckles fiercely. "I've seen the news! I know what you are! I'm taking you to the police. They'll lock you away and keep you there until you die. You'll never kill again...murderer!"

Full of fear and hardly realising what he was doing, Tails lashed out as hard as he could with his fist on his free arm, hitting Knuckles around the side of the head. Knuckles cried out in pain and surprise. He let go of Tails and crumpled to the floor. His eyes closed and he lay still. Tails looked from his fist to Knuckles, unable to believe what he had done, as well as what he hadn't done. Just then, Rouge came up, a little further away from them. She spotted Tails standing over the unconscious Knuckles, screamed and pointed at him. "You've killed again! You've killed Knuckles! _Murderer!!!_"

Tails jumped in fright when he heard Rouge and sprinted off again. Rouge ran over to where Knuckles was lying and cradled his body in her arms. She then let out a sigh of relief as his eyes slowly opened. "Knuckles? Are you alright?"

Knuckles looked up at Rouge and grinned weakly. "I was...until I saw you!"

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Tails continued to run along the route towards his house. He passed Cream's house and as he did, Cream appeared in her bedroom window. She opened it and pointed down at Tails. "_Murdereeeer!!!"_

Tails looked up at Cream without stopping. Vanilla then appeared into view and gasped when she saw Tails. She quickly picked up Cream and slammed the window shut. Tails continued running and spotted Shadow ahead. At first puzzled as to how he was back and alive, Tails expected him to do something, like the others had done.

However, Shadow just watched in silence as Tails passed. But Tails then heard him chuckle darkly behind him. "You can run, Tails...but you can't run from what you've done. We all know what you are, and so do you...murderer."

Shadow then continued to laugh darkly. His laugh followed Tails all the way up to his house. He disappeared inside, slammed the front door shut, locking it behind him and leaned against it, his heart pounding hard. He sank miserably to the floor. The voice's of his friends screaming 'Murderer' echoed in his head.

"Murderer!"

"Murderer!"

"Murderer!"

"Murderer!"

"Murderer!"

Tails had never felt miserable. He was not a killer. He had shot Cosmo, but that didn't make him a cold-blooded killer - she had asked him to. And after experiencing having to kill the one he loved, which was horrible just thinking about it, Tails had vowed never to kill again.

Why would he kill the first friend he ever made, who had accepted him when others just made fun of him? And all the other friends he had managed to make wouldn't have known about him if he hadn't met Sonic.

Tails sighed miserably. That was back in the old days. Now he didn't have any friends. Both best friend he had ever made and the most beautiful, kind-hearted friend whom he had fallen in love with were dead, and now everyone else hated him, thinking he was a killer.

But they had got it wrong. Someone had definitely framed him. Tails was sure of it. The whole of Mobius was wrong. Tails played back the newsreader telling all of Mobius that he had killed Sonic.

"_Sonic the Hedgehog had been stabbed in the chest, in an abandoned street near Mobius High Town. The fugitive has been confirmed. An unnamed witness spotted the culprit just after he had killed his victim, with the murder weapon still in his hand. The witness reported him and was even able to to provide a picture of him doing his criminal work. And right now, the M.P.D. are in pursuit...of Miles Prower...Miles Prower...Miles Prower..._"

The last two words in the newsreader's sentences kept endlessly repeating themselves in Tails' head. He covered his ears, trying to drown them out, but it was no good. Miles Prower. That meant him. No, it didn't. He wasn't Miles Prower. He was Tails. He always had been. But he knew deep down inside that they meant him. Tails cursed his name. He always had hated it, but he hated it even more, for what it had landed him into.

Tails stood up and began to walk miserably up the stairs. And once again, on his way up, he stopped to gaze miserably at the picture hanging on the wall. There were Cosmo and Sonic, alive. And everyone was happy, including Sonic, despite looking a bit panic-stricken, because Amy was after him again. Tails felt sorry for her right now, because he knew she would give anything to have him right now, more than ever. Unfortunately, she believed it was Tails' fault. Why did times have to go as bleak as they were now, instead of being as happy as they were then?

Tails continued on his way up the stairs and into his room. Once he shut the door, he leaned against it and looked down at his feet. He didn't notice the flower, which was sitting in its pot on the window sill, glowing again. Once it had stopped, he looked up at it and walked over to it. _What am I going to do? _he thought miserably.

He would have continued to think, but his thoughts were interrupted by a noise coming from outside the front of his house. The noise made his fur stand up, for it was the noise of police sirens wailing and car tyres screeching.

The police had come - and they had come for him.

Tails froze and listened in fear to the sound outside, which eventually died down. For a moment, there was silence again. Then the next noise heard was car doors opening and closing and footsteps. There was silence again for another moment. Then Tails heard a voice, which was partly hidden as it was speaking into a megaphone.

"Miles Prower! This is the M.P.D. We've got the front of the building surrounded! Come out with your hands up!"

Tails shivered. He had to get out of the house - and fast. But how? He then heard the sudden loud sound of something banging against the front door. The police were trying to barge their way in. Tails stood where he was, wondering what to do. They were all at the front of the house, so he couldn't get his workshop and make his getaway in the X Tornado. So how could he escape?

Tails looked at his bedroom window. The police had the front of the house surrounded, but not the back. He would have had more chance of escaping without being caught if he was able to get away in the X Tornado, but he knew he had no choice.

So Tails opened the window wide, then picked up the flower in its pot off the window sill. "We're getting out of here," he told it grimly. The flower said nothing as Tails twisted his tails around each other, preparing to fly.

There was a crashing sound downstairs as the police at last managed to break down the front door with their battering ram. They all cried out as they all ran inside the house, raced up the stairs and towards the closed door ahead which they guessed had to be Tails' bedroom and where he would be.

One of them (a rat, who happened to be the chief and the one speaking into the megaphone) kicked the door off its hinges and it fell to the floor. He ran into the room and was joined by a few of his partners in crime. They drew out their guns and pointed them around the room, but then lowered them and sighed.

The bedroom was empty, but the bedroom window was wide open. The blue curtains hanging by it flapped as the wind blew into the room.

The chief angrily gritted his teeth. "He's escaped."

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**So, yeah, not much action really in this chapter, if this is what you action. The next chapter will contain a small bit to, and after that, I'll try and emit more into future chapters.**

**So Tails escaped this time. But for how long? Stay tuned...**


	8. Chapter 8

**About time I wrote a new chapter.**

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By now, Tails was flying away from his house and the rest of the village where he lived. He was through some grassland, two metres above the ground, with the flower being carried in his hands in its pot.

Tails had no idea where he was going. All that was in the distance was nothing but grass. Everywhere around him looked the same. He didn't know how far he had gone, how far he was going to travel and what he would do when he arrived. All he knew was that he had escaped being arrested and being locked up for life for what he hadn't done by seconds.

As he continued to fly in a straight line, he looked down at the flower. "I'm gonna have to keep out of the way of the police. Otherwise they'll lock me up for life. There's no way I can convince them I killed Sonic. But why I do it? He is - I mean, he _was_ my best friend_._ And everyone who knew me knows that. But they don't seem to know me now. They think I'm a cold-blooded murderer."

Once again, the flower said nothing. Tails sighed miserably and listened to the quiet sounds of the night. For a moment, all that could be heard was the wind blowing gently and the quiet whirring noise of his tails spinning quickly behind him, keeping him up in the air. Then suddenly, Tails heard another whirring noise, which defiantly didn't come from his tails. He hovered where he was, listening sharply. It was coming from far behind him, so it was quite difficult to hear. Although he had an idea what it was, Tails looked back, just to be sure. He had guessed correctly - it was a helicopter. He could see it, not far above the ground, with a search light, shining onto the ground, casting a circular beam of light. Tails began to panic. He realised that the helicopter was searching for him, for as it flew closers the where he was hovering, Tails spotted the letters 'M', 'P' and 'D' on each other its sides. Anyone who lived on Mobius knew that these initials stood for Mobius Police Department.

Tails continued flying ahead, wondering what to do. He knew he couldn't outfly the helicopter. It would catch up with him, or worse, shoot him. He had to hide. But he didn't think there was anywhere to hide, as he thought all that was around him was nothing but grass.

That was when Tails spotted a single pine tree ahead. He flew quickly towards it and dove through the leaves and into the branches. He sat down on one, placed the flower pot in front of him, hugged his knees and listened in silence.

After about three minutes, the noise of rotor blades occurred again, this time, very loud, as the helicopter was hovering close to the pine tree. The search light lit up the ground near by, but wasn't able to find a fox with two tails. Then suddenly, the light cast onto the tree, lighting up it up, inside and outside the leaves and branches. Tails shivered, fearing he had been spotted.

A voice spoke into the helicopter's intercom. "Can you see him? Is he in there?"

Tails froze and listened. Another voice then spoke. "No, I don't think he's hiding in there. But he must be around here somewhere. This is the way he came."

"He must have doubled back to the village," remarked the other voice. "Let's do the same, just in case he has."

The helicopter turned around one hundred and eighty degrees and headed back the opposite way it had come. Tails remained froze and listened hard until the sound of the rotor blades had finally died down, meaning the helicopter was out of sight and he was safe. Tails sighed with relief and raised his hand, meaning to wipe his brow, but his hand hit the flower pot in front of him. Tails gasped in horror as it wobbled for a moment, then began to fall off the branch, but fortunately, Tails managed to catch it in time. He brought it to his face and sighed with relief a second time, before flying out of the tree and in a straight line again, holding the flower pot tight.

* * *

Tails continued flying for another twenty-five minutes. He was now tired, and wanted a place to stay for the night. But he still in the grasslands, and it wasn't safe to sleep in the opening. Suppose the police came back here looking for him. They could easily catch and arrest him with he was asleep. He would have no possible way to escape then.

Just then, Tails spotted what looked like a town in the distance. A few tall building could be seen standing. It was about half a mile away, so Tails continued to fly wearily ahead, before the town eventually came closer and more clearer, and soon, the grass that was below him was replaced with roads, pavements and roof tops. Tails touched down onto the road below him, looked around and gulped.

He was no safer in this town than he was in his own home or in the grasslands. In fact, he was possibly in more danger. For this was Mobius Low Town; a dangerous place to live, for it was a rough place. A lot of crime and disruption occurred here. Tails looked around at the dark building. A gust of wind blew, but that wasn't what was making Tails shiver right now. He didn't like this place and he wished he hadn't come here. It was where criminals would be found. But right now, the whole of Mobius thought he was a criminal, though that did not make him fit in here.

Tails yawned and decided now was not the time to worry about that and focused on finding somewhere to stay for the night. There was a tall building nearby, about twenty-five storeys high. It had been abandoned years ago and looked like it could fall apart any minute. But Tails decided seeing as it had looked like that for years, even when it was in use, it wouldn't collapse tonight. It was also a good place to lay low, seeing as it wasn't in use and no one would think to find him there.

Most of the doors and windows had been boarded up, except for one window with no glass on the seventeenth floor. Tails twisted his tails around each other, and flew up vertically until he was level with the window. Then he flew through it and stood down onto the the floor. He found himself in a large dark room, with nothing inside, except a wireless radio with lay in one corner.

Tails placed the flower pot onto the floor and walked towards the corner where the radio was. He wondered if the news was on and what it would say about him He went down on his knees beside the radio and pressed a button on it to turn it on. For a moment, the radio was static, being unable to find the signal, so Tails turned the dial on it, before eventually hearing a female voice coming from it.

"Tonight, more and more police forces are joining the search to find murderer Miles Prower, believed to be armed and dangerous. It was a Miss Amy Rose, who managed to put the M.P.D. on the fox's tail - or tails. But he escaped by seconds. We now go live to Miss Rose."

Tails felt his stomach tighten up as he heard Amy's angry voice speak.

"You must make sure that Tails is caught. You must not rest until you find him and lock him up. I will not relax until he is. You police have managed to catch many murderers before. Don't fail to catch this one. He has already killed once - someone I love - you _must _catch him before he kills again, and make sure he never takes another life of a loved one."

There was a pause, then Tails heard Amy speak in a much sadder tone.

"I just want to let everyone know that the guy Tails killed -- Sonic - there was no other person like him. He has saved Mobius many times than You will ever know. I don't know what we'll do without him. I certainly won't...because I...I loved him."

Tails felt sad himself listening to Amy. He then heard the voice that had been speaking first. "That was Amy Rose, who had put the police on the fox's tails. So, right now, the many polices hunt for this fox, as he is now wanted, dead of alive, heads or tails. Freda Edwards, Mobius Wide News."

The news went onto another story, so Tails turned off the radio. He felt very miserable, living not only with the fact that his best friend had died, as well as the love of his life, but now, everyone thought he did it, and he was now a wanted murderer.

Tails walked over to where the plant was on the floor and way beside it on the hard floor. He just lay where he was miserably in silence before, with much difficulty, finally falling asleep.

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**So Tails is safe for now - but for how long? He's wanted dead or alive! Let's hope he at least stays alive through the story...**


	9. Chapter 9

**Well, here's a new chapter, which I though would be shorter than the rest, but turned out to be longer than I thought. I decided to write it, as it focuses on the other characters, and what they do here leads to their roles in upcoming chapters. **

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The next morning was a very dark one, as it was raining hard. The beautiful blue sky from the day before had been eaten away by grey rain clouds, from which heavy rain drops were falling, giving Mobius a very gloomy atmosphere. Not many pedestrians were walking about in the bad weather, and most of the few that were daring to go out and get soaked were dressed in thick rain coats and Wellington boots, holding umbrellas above their heads, though they did not do much good to keep them dry.

Amy was making her way to Cream's house, having been invited there by Vanilla that morning over the telephone. Amy was carrying no umbrella, and was wearing only the dress, shoes and hair band she normally wore, but nothing to protect for from the rain, which was why Vanilla was shocked to see Amy soaked from head to toes when she opened the front door of her house after Amy had rung the doorbell. She didn't seem to noticed straightaway how Amy's face looked as gloomy as the weather.

So, after spending fifteen minutes drying Amy with some warm towers and fixing her a steaming cup of hot chocolate, Vanilla sat down on the couch in the lounge next to her and finally asked how she was.

Amy sighed miserably and stared into her cup. Her reflection in the hot chocolate stared back. "I just can't believe any of it. None of this seems real. It's like a bad dream. First the one I love dies at the hands of another - and then I find out that the ruthless person who took his life is someone who's supposed to be my friend - and Sonic's _best _friend. I can't believe it's happening. But let's face it - it is. I just don't want to believe it is."

"I know, dear." Vanilla put her arms around Amy. "Don't worry. That sly little fox who made you think he was your friend won't get away with the terrible act he's done. The police will catch him eventually and lock him up."

"It won't really do much good though, will it," sighed Amy unhappily. "It won't bring back Sonic, will it?"

"No, but it will stop him from killing another person."

Amy wiped her eyes. "Yeah, I guess. Losing Sonic is bad enough. I'd hate to lose another friend."

Vanilla squeezed Amy gently, offering the little hedgehog plenty of warmth and comfort, as if she were her own daughter.

Cream then came down the stairs with Cheese flying next to her. She spotted Amy with her mother. "Are you okay, Amy?"

Amy looked back at Cream. "I th-think so, Cream."

"I think you should see this. Come on up."

Vanilla let go of Amy and Amy handed her the cup she had been drinking from before following Cream and Cheese up the stairs. They went into Cream's room and looked out of the window. Amy had to look hard to see blue flashing lights of police cars, in the grey atmosphere of the weather, all parked outside Tails' house.

"What are they doing there?" Amy asked, slightly annoyed. "They said he escaped last night. So they should be looking where he could be, not looking where he isn't."

"They must be looking for evidence," Cream explained. "Maybe the weapon he used to kill Sonic."

Amy thought for a moment, then suddenly remembered. "Well, they won't find it there. Because he left it at my house."

"He did?" Cream looked at her. "Well then, let's go and hand it in."

"Oh no, Cream!"

"What?!" Cream looked surprised. "Why not?"

"I...I can't even look at that thing. Never mind pick it up! I had to cover my eyes when I walked past where it was lying on my carpet. I can't bare to look at that thing...which killed my love, and was in the hand of our so-called friend." Amy looked down at her feet. "I'm sorry, Cream."

"Oh, it's okay Amy," replied Cream, rubbing her back.

Amy looked up towards Tails' house. "But I would like to go over and have a little word with the police."

"Oh, I don't think my Mama will let us out. She won't let me, at the thought of a killer on the loose."

At that moment, Vanilla's voice called up the stairs. "Cream! Cheese! Amy! I'm going out to the shops! Will you to be okay here?!"

"We will, Mama!" Cream called back.

"Okay. Well, I'm locking the door, to keep you safe, okay. Goodbye." And with that, Vanilla walked out of the front door. Amy, Cream and Cheese heard the door bang, followed by the sound of the key locking it.

"Right," remarked Amy. "Now's our chance."

"But how can we get out?" asked Cream. The door's locked."

"Well then, let's go out the window."

"Oh. Good idea."

Amy opened the window wide and looked out. The rain fell down onto her head. There was a drain pipe running down the wall beside the window, so she carefully stood up on the window sill. "Gently does it." She reached out and took hold of the pipe with both hands. Then she took her feet off the window sill - then cried out as the pipe broke and she fell, landing on the front onto the ground.

"Amy!" Cream cried out. She flew out of the window and landed by her friend's side. "Are you alright?"

Amy got to her hands and knees, groaning. "Yeah, I'm fine." She looked up at Cream and gave her a puzzled look. "Hey, how did you get down here so safely and so quickly?"

Cream giggled. "You forget Amy that I can't fly."

"Oh, well, thanks for reminding me, Cream," groaned Amy grudgingly.

Cheese came flying out of the window and hovered by Cream's side. Amy stood up. "Well, shall we go?" And with that, they headed away from Cream's house and headed towards Tails', ignoring the cold wind and heavy rain.

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They soon arrived to find the house surrounded by several police lines and many officers walking in and out of the front door. They could hear smashing sounds coming from inside, and they guessed that the police must be ripping apart everything in sight.

The rat chief walked by and Cream called to him. "Excuse me."

The cheif turned to her. "Whoa! You need to get away from here little girl. This is police work. Not for little girls like you. So you go away and go somewhere for little girls."

"Hey! Don't patronize her!" Amy snapped, annoyed.

The chief turned to Amy. "Ah, Miss Rose. What are you doing here. You did your interview last night, so we don't need you for anything else."

"I just wanted to ask what you police are doing here. You should be looking for Tails, he isn't here! You know that. He escaped before you could catch him."

"We have plenty of police officers looking for Prower," replied the cheif. "We, meanwhile, are looking for evidence."

"Well I don't think you'll find any in there!"

"Why?" The chief frowned. "Do you have any?"

Cream looked at Amy and and Amy looked sheepishly down at her feet. "No."

"Then bog off and let us get on with our work."

Cheese chirped angrily, as if to say "No need to be rude!", but the cheif took no notice.

The girls began to walk away, but then Amy turned back and asked, "Oh, one more thing; which way did Tails go?"

"We think he headed North West," the chief replied. "Now like I said, bog off!"

The girls walked angrily away. As they walked down the path, they spotted Shadow, who smiled when he saw them. "Hello, Amy. How are you feeling?"

"I guess...I'm okay." Amy sighed miserably.

"Who'd have thought Tails, Sonic's so-called best friend, would have killed him?" Shadow sighed.

"Yeah, it's hard to believe," replied Amy, sniffing.

"But don't worry. Forget about Tails. You have friends like us, who care about you. Like me." Shadow then pulled Amy into a tight hug. Amy felt suprised at first, but smiled and hugged Shadow back. Cream and Cheese looked on, puzzled.

"And us!" called a voice. Amy broke the hug and looked past Shadow to find Knuckles and Rouge walking together towards them, side by side. It was Rouge who had spoken, and was still speaking now. "Are you okay, Amy."

"I think so."

"What's happening at Tails' house now?" asked Knuckles.

"They're searching for evidence," explained Cream. "I told Amy she should hand in the knife, since Tails bought it to her house and left it there."

"But I can't," said Amy sadly. "This knife had killed Sonic. I can't look at it, never mind hold it."

"Fair enough," remarked Shadow. "Besides, everyone knows it's Tails anyway."

"Where is that sly fox anyway?" asked Rouge, frowning. "Do they know?"

"They said he headed North West," replied Amy.

"That's towards Mobius Low Town," exclaimed Knuckles. "A fitting place, if any, for a criminal like him."

Amy's eyes widened. "In that case, I'm gonna go there!"

"WHAT?!" The others all cried out in unison.

"I have to catch him!" Amy yelled with determination. "I'll make sure he never kills again!"

"Are you crazy?!" snapped Knuckles angrily. "He won't think twice about killing you!"

Amy took out her hammer. "He's have to get past my good friend, Mr Hammer!"

"Well, I'm going with you," remarked Rouge, stepping forward.

"Me too," added Knuckles, smiling. "I wanna give Tails a taste of the pain we all feel."

"I'm coming too," piped up Cream.

"Chao!" added Cheese.

"Sorry!" replied Knuckles. "But it's too dangerous for little girls like you!"

"Don't call me a little girl!" Cream yelled angrily, surprising Knuckles.

"Chao!" Cheese snapped, furious.

"I may be the youngest, but I have dealt with dangerous situations before! I've just been patronized by the police cheif! Don't you do the same Knuckles! I'm coming with you, whether you like it or not-"

"Okay, okay!" Knuckles cried, suprised at seeing this side to Cream. "But we're all gonna keep an eye on you too."

"Thank you Knuckles," Cream smiled sweetly.

"Chao." Cheese chirped.

"Shadow, are you coming too?" Rouge turned to the black hedgehog.

Shadow remained silent for a while, then smiled. "Sure. Let's catch Tails and make sure he never kills again!"

"Yeah!" Amy yelled, smiling. Then her face fell and she put a figure to her lips. "Um, how do we get there quickly. The police hace blocked the house, so we can't take the X Tornado."

"They've probably smashed it to pieces anyway," muttered Knuckles quietly.

Cream giggled. "You all forget that I can fly. "I'll take you all there."

"I'll carry you Knuckles," Rouge told Knuckles. "Cream can carry Amy."

"What about Shadow?" asked Amy.

"I'll just run. I'll be okay," smiled Shadow. "C'mon. Let's go stop that killer."

So Cream and Rouge flew upwards. Amy took hold of Cream's ankles and Knuckles did the same with Rouge's. As the two flying animal's flew upwards, Rouge groaned at Knuckles' weight. "About time you went on a diet?"

"Are you calling me fat?"

The others giggled. Then Cream, Rouge and Cheese flew North West, with Amy and Knuckles hanging below, and Shadow running on the ground, all hoping to catch their former friend, Tails.

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**So there you go. There's the new chapter. Sorry if there are parts to it which are quite shoddy. I wasn't really in a writing mood today, but I had to make an update, and I need to update a bit more often, since a week Tuesday, I'm jetting off to Spain, so I won't be able to update for a week.**

**So, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter - even though I didn't enjoy writing it.**


	10. Chapter 10

**I've been sick with the laziness bug. I planned to write this chapter yesterday, but when it was time for me to get around to it, I didn't want to. Sorry to keep you guys waiting. I owe an update, especially since on Tuesday, I wont be able to update for a week. So before I do go, here's the tenth chapter for you.**

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Over in Mobius Low Town, inside the abandoned building, Tails woke up with the side of his head aching from lying down on the hard floor all night. He yawned, sat up wearily and rubbed the side of his head. He looked around the bare room, wondering where he was. Then he remembered what had happened to Sonic the night before and why he was here. He sighed miserably. "Why couldn't it have all been just a bad dream?"

He rubbed the side of his head again and looked down at the flower, which was standing up in its pot. "It's alright for you," he chuckled. "You can sleep standing up."

He picked up the pot, walked over to the window which he had flown through to get inside and looked down at the street below. The rain was giving it an ugly look. The colour seemed to be draining out of everything. But most importantly for Tails, there was no one walking on the ground covered in puddles below. So Tails, still holding onto the pot, twisted his tails around each other, spun them quickly, and, ignoring the heavy rain which soaked his fur, flew out of the window and down to the ground below.

Once he feet touched the pavement, he looked around, wondering where to go. Since he didn't know his way around, he decided it didn't matter which way he went. So he set off in the left direction. As he walked, he listened hard for police sirens, in case the police had decided to follow him. But all he could hear was the rain drops hitting the ground, the wind howling, and tyres of distant cars rolling through puddles.

Tails walked on, feeling cold from the weather, and looked at the houses he was walking past, which were very old and looked as if they could collapse any minute. But Tails realised they were still being occupied, for in some of the houses, behind the dirty curtains drawn across the windows, he could hear people shouting and swearing at each other. They seemed to be just as bad as the people of the town were said to be.

A long fence made of rotten wood came after the line of old houses. Tails came to it, walked alongside it - then stopped in his tracks.

Nailed to the fence, and very soggy from the heavy rain, was a wanted poster.

On top of it was the word "WANTED" in large bold, black capital letters. Then below it was the words, "FOR MURDER", also in bold, black capital letters, though much smaller. Then, underneath these words, to Tails' horror, was the picture seen on the news of him, leaning over the body of his best friend, with the knife in his blood-stained hand, its blade facing down above the hole in Sonic's chest. Tails slapped his forehead furiously. Why had he been so stupid to even touch that knife?

Below the pictures was the words "DEAD OR ALIVE", and then the rest of the poster was taken up by a description of Tails. Tails realised that the police must have come to the town the night before. If they had searched the buildinghe had spent the night him, they would have arrested him easily. Tails wiped his brow and sighed with relief. But he assumed that the police must still be searching the area. And now that they had put up a poster of him the night before, someone in the town would easily recognise him as the two-tailed killer and bring the police down onto him.

Looking around to make sure nobody was about, Tails put the plant pot down onto the ground, ripped the soggy wanted poster off the wooden fence, then furiously tore it up, letting the pieces blow away in the wind. Then he picked up the plant pot and began walking again, looking for a way to lay low.

He soon found a way as he spotted a charity shop on the other side of the road. He squinted and looked through the building's window. He could see a vole shopkeeper standing behind the counter at the far wall, writing on a notebook, which she then set down onto the counter. She turned around and walked through a doorway that was in the wall behind the counter.

Tails ran across the road and through the door to the shop. He looked around at all the clothes that were on sale. He had decided to steal some to disguise himself. He had to quickly pick some clothes that would would hide him well. He picked out a large, battered, green raincoat that was much too big for him off one of the clothes racks. Carrying the coat in his left arm and the plant pot in his right, Tails walked over to a small table which was in the middle of the room. Lots of clothes were resting on it, and amongst them, Tails spotted an old yellow scarf and a grey rain hat.

Tails was about to pick them up when he spotted the cash register on the counter at the back of the room. Though he didn't want to do it, he thought that he would need some money while he was on the run. So he placed the raincoat and plant pot on the table and walked over to the counter and stood behind it. Hating himself for what he was doing, Tails pressed a button on the cash register which opened it. There was only five twenty dollar bills inside. Tails guessed that the people who lived in this town were too inconsiderate to donate to charity.

He suddenly heard footsteps coming from somewhere behind the doorway. The shopkeeper was coming back. Tails snatched up the money and slammed the cash register shut. Then he ran over to the table, gathered up the raincoat, scarf hat and plant pot and raced out of the shop. He continued to run up the street and rounded a corner which led to an alleyway.

Tails stood gasping for breath for a moment, then put down the flower pot and everything he had stolen. He picked up the raincoat, put it on (making sure his tails were kept inside) and zipped it up. It went down to just past his knees, so it concealed most of his body, as he had hoped. He then picked up the scarf and wrapped it around his muzzle instead of his neck, so that the lower part of his head was hidden. After that, Tails picked up the rain hat and put it on his head, As it was very big, it not only covered most of his head, but also his ears. Tails thought whoever the hat had once belonged to must have had a very big head. But it helped, along with the rest of the clothes he was now wearing, to hide his looks, as they were doing now.

Only the money and plant pot were on the ground now. Tails picked up the pot with his left arm and picked up the money with his right hand and stuffed it into one of the raincoat's pockets. He felt very ashamed of himself for stealing money which was supposed to be for a good cause. The poor victims it was meant to help needed it more than he did. Although he wasn't really killer as everyone on Mobius thought he was, he was now a thief.

Now disguised well enough to hide his looks, Tails walked out of the alley and continued on his way, having no idea where he was going and what he was going to do.

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**So there you go. There's the tenth chapter. I'm surprised this part turned out to be the tenth. I don't have any idea how many chapters this story is gonna take. This story won't be really long, but it won't be really short either.**

**Well, that's the last update for now, since, as I said, I'm going to Spain for a week. Although there's an Internet cafe in the hotel, I won't be able to write another chapter while I'm there, although I will log in to reply to your reviews. Thanks for reviewing by the way. It means a lot that you take the time to read and give feedback on this story. :) **

**While I'm in Spain, I'll try to give some thought towards future chapters, and when I get back, I'll try and put more effort into writing this story.**

**So that's all for now. See you guys! :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hi guys! :) I got back from Spain last night. I pretty much enjoyed myself out there. The weather out there was very hot. At least it's alot cooler at home. :P**

**Well, now that I'm home, it's time for me to get back to writing. I know you've all been waiting for a new chapter, so here it is.**

**

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**

Tails walked aimlessly through the town, holding onto the plant pot, all wrapped up in the clothes he had stolen which hid his body features and also protected him from the rain.

After a while of walking without seeing anyone or finding anywhere to go, Tails spotted a café on the left side of the road. Feeling a bit hungry, having not eaten or drunk for hours, he walked across the road towards the door of the building. As he opened the door, a bell hanging above it rang. Tails closed the door behind him and looked around the small room. There were a few round wooden tables covered by pink and white checkered tablecloths that were all badly ripped. Around each table were four old wooden chairs. The four walls of the room were painted orange-brown and covered with stains. The sound of quiet music coming from a radio on the counter at the far end of the room filled the air.

A person was sitting down at one of the tables, but Tails couldn't see his face, as he was holding up a newspaper in front of him. Tails noticed, much to his horror, on the front page of the newspaper, the headline read "FOX MURDERS HEDGEHOG", and below it was the picture of Tails kneeing over Sonic, which was being shown all over Mobius, making everyone think Tails was a cold-blooded murderer.

"Hey you! Are you buying something or what?!"

Tails jumped with fright when he heard a sharp voice shout at him. He turned towards the counter and saw a weasel standing behind it. She was wearing a pink shirt and dress and a white apron, all covered in stains. A cigarette was clamped between her lips, smoke rising from the end. As Tails nervously walked the counter, he stopped a few steps away, so that the smoke wouldn't pollute the flower. The weasel looked at the flower and frowned at it before looking back up at Tails. "Whaddaya want?!"

"Um, hi," Tails said in a shaky voice. "What do you serve here?!"

"Food, of course! Are you stupid?!"

"Um, what kind of food?"

"We do toast!"

"Okay, I'll have some toast please."

"The bread's gone off!"

"Okay, do you do eggs?"

"I dropped them on the floor this morning!"

"Bacon?"

"I burnt it!"

"Do you do cups of tea?" Tails sighed, beginning to lose patience.

"Yeah!"

"Okay. I'll have a cup of tea please."

The weasel then pressed some buttons on the cash register on the counter. "That'll be five dollars!"

"Five dollars?!" Tails gasped. "For one cup of tea?!"

"Do you want it or not?!" snapped the weasel crossly. "If you don't, you can get out!"

"Okay, okay!" Tails took a five dollar bill out of one of his coat's pockets. But he didn't walk over to the counter and give it to the weasel, as he still didn't want the smoke polluting the flower. In the end, he threw it over to her. The weasel caught it in mid-air, frowned at Tails, then disappeared through the doorway in the back wall behind the counter. Tails then sat down at one of the tables and placed the plant pot on the table. He looked towards the other person sitting a few tables away, who was keeping very still and his facial features were still hidden behind the newspaper he was holding up.

At that moment, the music played on the died down, and a voice then spoke. "Now it's time for the latest Mobius Wide News."

The voice of the newsreader speaking on the radio news the night before spoke. "Our top story, several prosecutors join the search for Miles Prower, who made his gateway the night before. Though he is believed to be somewhere in Mobius Low Town, the M.P.D. was unable to find him last night. However, a number of police officers are continuing to search the town right now, while others are searching all over Mobius, hoping to apprehend this murder very soon. All Mobians are advised to stay indoors for your own safety."

The newsreader then went on to other stories. Tails shivered. The police were in the town right now looking for him. He would have to be careful in case he saw any and would have to make sure his disguised hid him well, although it seemed to be working, since the weasel and other person didn't recognise him.

The weasel came back carrying a cup of tea on a tray. Tails was thankful to see that she no longer had a cigarette in between her lips. She picked up the cup and slammed it down onto the table.

"That was quick," remarked Tails with surprise. "Thanks. Um, do you have any plant food."

"No I don't!" snapped the weasel, annoyed. "This is a café! Not a flower shop!"

"Just a thought," replied Tails quietly. He watched as the weasel walked back to behind the counter and through the doorway in the back wall. He lifted up the mug and took a gulp of tea - then began to cough. The tea was freezing, as if it had been kept in a refrigerator.

After a fit of coughing, Tails looked into the remaining tea in the mug with a look of disgust, then poured it onto the floor before standing up and picking up the flower pot. "C'mon, let's go. I ain't having a cold cup of tea, or any of the horrible food and drink they serve here."

He was just heading towards the door, when he heard the person behind the newspaper suddenly spoke. "Nice disguise, Tails!"

Tails froze with fear and frightfully looked back towards the person, who didn't put down his newspaper, but continued to speak. "You really had me fooled for a second."

The person then put down the newspaper and Tails' eyes widened to see that it was none other than Knuckles. The echidna sneered at the dressed up fox. "But you should have lost the plant. That gave you away."

Tails stood in silence and fear for a few seconds. Then he sprinted out of the door to the café out into the rainy weather. Knuckles jumped out of the seat, raced out of the café and set chase. Tails raced up the street as fast as he could, causing his rain hat to fall off his head. He tried to twist his tails to fly, but he couldn't, since his tails were inside the raincoat. So he just continued to run, but Knuckles was running faster. He soon caught up with Tails, grabbed hold of the back of the raincoat and pulled on it, trying to stop Tails, but he only ripped the jacket to pieces, making it fall completely off Tails. Knuckles then grabbed the scarf wrapped around Tails' muzzled and pulled on it, but only too unravel it and pull it off Tails as well.

Tails continued to run and twisted his tails around each other, now that they were free, and was about to fly, when Knuckles grabbed hold of tails. Tails stopped running and cried out as he fell forward. As he fell, the plant pot fell out of his hands and landed upright on the wet concrete ground, while Tails landed on his front.

Tails lay still of a few seconds, then lifted his head up to look ahead. He saw the plant pot standing in front of him and reached out with his arms to grab it, but then cried out in pain as Knuckles stood on his arms. Tails looked up at his former friend, who sneered down at him. "Alright, Tails. The game is over. You either come quietly to the police station and serve your life sentence, who I will smash your precious flower."

"No! Please Knuckles!" cried Tails, his eyes tearing up. "Don't hurt my flower."

"So, you'll come quietly then?" Knuckles smirked slyly. "And take your punishment for killing Sonic?"

"Knuckles, please!" Tails sobbed desperately. "I didn't do it!"

"Of couse you didn't! Now are you gonna come?! Otherwise the next thing to die will be the flower!"

"Don't you _dare_ kill my flower!" Tails yelled angrily, his tears pouring out of his eyes and mixing with raindrops that ran down his face. "That will make you a murderer!"

"Maybe," said Knuckles, shrugging. "But I can get away with killing a stupid flower, whereas you can't and won't get away with killing your friend. Now, for the last time, are you gonna come quietly?"

Tails quickly glanced around the concrete ground, and spotted an iron bar on his left side, which he would have been in his reach if his arms were free. Hoping Knuckles would do what he wanted him to do, Tails lowered his head sadly and sighed. "Yes, Knuckles. I'll come."

"Good fox." Knuckles took his foot of Tails' arms and reached down to take hold of his arms, and that was what Tails had hoped for. Quickly, he grabbed the iron bar with his left hand and whipped it hard across Knuckles' right leg. Knuckles cried out in pain and bent down, clutching his leg with both hands. Tails then shot up to his feet, raised the iron bar above his hand and brought it down hard onto Knuckles' head. Knuckles cried out again, clutched his head and crumpled to the floor.

Tails breathed heavily and looked down at what he had done to his former friend. Then, picking up the plant pot in his right am and holding on to the iron bar in his left arm, Tails ran up the street, leaving Knuckles to moan and groan in pain on the concrete floor.

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**Seems all this has taught Tails to be much tougher, although his friends aren't the best choice to do his attack on, eh? ;)**

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter after waiting so long.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Sorry to keep you waiting with this chapter. It's been over a week since the last one. I should have wrote it some time earlier. I hope it won't be too shoddy.**

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Knuckles lay on the ground, moaning and groaning in pain, the rain beating down hard on him. He was in a lot of shock as well as pain. Tails had never attacked him like that before. Knuckles never thought Tails had it in him. But Knuckles quickly reminded himself that he was dealing with a murderer. _He must have pretended to be weak so he could preform a surprise attack, _he thought in between moans. _And boy, was I a fool to fall for it!_

"Knuckles!"

Knuckles raised his aching head, clutching it in pain, as he saw Amy, Shadow, Rouge, Cream and Cheese running frantically over to him, horrified at the sight of him lying on the ground. They stopped beside him and looked worriedly down at him, relieved to see he was alive, for they had feared the worst.

It had been Cream who had called Knuckles' name. She bent down beside him and put a hand to his head, noticing it now had a huge lump. "Are you okay?" She asked in a quiet worried voice.

"I'll live," grunted Knuckles, grinning weakly.

"And thank heavens," remarked Rouge worriedly. "We thought you were dead."

"You won't get rid of me that easily," Knuckles laughed dryly. He struggled to his feet. His legs gave way under him and he nearly fell back to the ground, but Cream put out a hand to steady him and managed to keep him upright.

"Knuckles," said Amy quietly, "did _he _do this to you?"

Knuckles nodded. "Yes, Amy. _He _did it to me."

"Right! Which way did he go?!" Shadow snapped, his hands clenching into fists.

Knuckles pointed up the street. "That way."

"Right! I'm gonna go and make sure he never hurts or tries to kill again."

"Wait, Shadow...!" Amy began.

"Don't worry," the black hedgehog grinned at her. "I'll be fine! He can't hurt me!" With that, he sped off up the street. The others watched him disappear out of side, a little worried about him. Then Cream started to flap her ears and began to fly into the air and Cheese followed.

"What are you doing, Cream?" Amy asked her.

Cream hovered above her friends with Cheese hovering beside her. "I'm gonna stop Tails by myself as well!"

The others gasped in horror. "You can't stop him!" Rouge cried. "You'll be killed!"

"No I won't! I'll catch him and stop him easily! He'll never kill again when I'm done with him! C'mon, Cheese!" Cream then turned in the air and headed off in the direction Shadow ran with Cheese following. The others called and ran after her, but they soon lost Cream and Cheese as they flew out of sight.

Amy began to gasp frantically. "Oh no. If she runs into Tails, he'll kill her. That poor little rabbit won't stand a chance against that sly fox." She continued to gasp frantically, being close to tears, and Rouge rubbed her back.

* * *

A while later, further away, Tails was walking aimlessly through an abandoned street, full of empty old houses. He was still carrying the flower pot in one arm and clutching the iron bar he had used to hit Knuckles in his free hand. As he walked, he kept looking over his shoulder to see if anyone was following him. After the eighth time, he looked down at the flower. "So Knuckles is here? That means the others must be here. I'd better be careful. I can't let them catch me. And I especially can't let them destroy you. You're all I have left. I won't let them destroy you."

As always, the flower remained silent. Tails looked through the windows which had not been boarded up on the old houses he was passing. All he saw was empty lounges which no furniture and bare walls and floors. Then suddenly, Tails spotted a box of plant food on the window sills in one of the houses. He ran over to the window and looked at the box, then the plant. "Oh, I haven't fed you since yesterday afternoon. How could I be so stupid?" He looked back at the box and smiled. "Well, that's a stroke of luck. But how do we get in?"

The window still had glass in it. Tails was thinking of smashing it open with the iron bar, when he walked looked around the side of the house and saw that the side door had been ripped off its hinges. Tails was puzzled at first, but shrugged it off and walked inside. He found himself in the hallway, which, just like the lounge, had bare walls and flooring. The stairway was nearby, leading upstairs, and to Tails' right was a doorway in the wall, leading to the kitchen.

There was another doorway in the wall in front of him, leading to the lounge. Tails walked through and saw the box of plant food sitting on the window sill. Smiling, he walked over to it. He placed the flower pot on the window sill and, with his free hand, picked up the box of plant food and poured the plant food into the pot. "There we go. That should keep you from dying." At these words, he sighed unhappily, as he remembered what had happened to Sonic. "Pity it couldn't keep Sonic from dying."

"No! Only you could do that! But you decided to go ahead and kill him!"

Tails froze as a sinister voice behind him spoke viciously. He dropped the box of plant food onto the floor and looked over his shoulder in horror to see Shadow coming into the room, smiling cruelly. "Well, well, well. You fell right into my trap! No so smart now! Are you, fox?!"

Tails turned to face Shadow, shivering in fear. Shadow chuckled darkly. "You know, I really can't believe this; that you killed Sonic. I mean, just look at you now! You look more of a coward. But still, you easily fooled Knuckles with that. You're as cunning as a...well, as a fox. But you're not as strong as me. I'll take you to the police easily, and there'll be no more deaths caused by you."

Tails suddenly raised the iron bar above his head and ran towards Shadow, intending to hit him on the head. But before he could, Shadow grapped his wrist as it came down and, with his free hand, took the bar out of Tails' hand, released Tails' wrist, and bent the bar with his hands and tossed it over his shoulder. "Uh, uh, uh! You going to hurt someone with that."

Tails angrily clenched his hands into fists and threw punches at Shadow, but the black hedgehog grabbed the fox's wrists, spun him around and pushed him hard against the back wall. Tails looked helplessly into Shadow's red eyes and the hedgehog smirked triumphantly. "You make it too easy. Bet you wish you didn't kill Sonic now! He would be able to help you. But then again, if you didn't, I wouldn't need to do this to you. I'm going it, because you're a cold-blooded killer."

Tails screamed out in anger, and suddenly kicked Shadow in the abdomen. Shadow cried out in pain, let go of Tails' wrists and walked backwards, clutching his stomach. Now free, Tails ran towards Shadow, grabbed the white hair on his chest, pulled him towards him, then threw him backwards. Shadow stumbled backwards and fell into the window, which smashed to pieces as fell out of the room and onto the concrete ground as rain water and pieces of glass rained over him.

Tails gasped and put his hand to his mouth, horrifed at what he had done. When the bits of glass stopped falling, he walked over to the window sill and looked down at Shadow lying on the ground. His eyes were closed and bits of glass were sticking into him, making him bled badly. Tails began to panic, fearing he now really was a murderer. But then he heard Shadow groan and his eyelids began fluttering. Quickly, Tails picked up the plant pot, which was still sitting on the window sill, and flew out of the house, over Shadow and into the town, just before Shadow finally opened his eyes.

The hedgehog lay where he was, groaning in pain. Then he suddenly heard a scream, followed by his name being called. He turned his head and smiled to see Amy running towards in worry, followed by Knuckles and Rouge.

Amy stopped beside Shadow and bent beside him, She looked all over him and took in the shards of glass stinking in him and the tiny steams of blood leaking out. She took hold of a piece of glass and pulled it out.

"Ow!" Shadow cried. "Take it easy, Amy!"

"Sorry." Amy looked back towards Rouge and Knuckles. "Go see if you can find a medical centre. I'll stay here with Shadow."

"Right," agreed Rouge, then she and Knuckles ran off down the street, leaving Amy alone with Shadow. She pulled out another piece of glass.

"Ow! That hurt!"

"Just be thankful you're not dead." Amy's eyes started to tear up. "He did this to you, did he?"

"Yes he did."

"Oh Shadow! I knew you shouldn't have gone after him by yourself." Amy wiped her eyes. "And Cream and Cheese have gone after him too!"

"Hey, he failed to kill me," Shadow smiled softly. "Perhaps he'll fail to kill them too."

Amy sniffed. "I'm so glad you're alright, Shadow."

"I'm glad you're here, Amy," smiled Shadow. Then he cried out as Amy pulled another shard of glass out of his body.

* * *

**So first Knuckles, now Shadow. Who's gonna be next to have a taste of extreme pain from Tails? Wait and see.**

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter...at least more than I'm gonna enjoy tomorrow, which is when my A Level results are out. I'm worried in case I did badly and have let my Mum down. :(**

**Well, that's that chapter done. Stay tuned until the next one.**


	13. Chapter 13

**So here we are at Chapter 13. Who is this chapter gonna be unlucky for? Not Tails, because he's been unlucky since the start of the story. You probably can guess who, so read on.**

* * *

Vanilla was making her way though the village back towards her house, holding an umbrella over her head with her right hand and carrying shopping bags in her left hand. The rain was now stopping, but the sky was still dark and cloudy. Vanilla saw her house in sight and hurried towards it. "I hope Cream, Cheese and Amy have been okay while I've been gone. But I locked the door, so no murderer could get in."

Vanilla approached her front door and put the shopping bags down on the doorstep. She took out her key and unlocked the door, before picking the shopping bags up again and disappearing into the hallway of the house, closing the front door behind her.

Vanilla closed her umbrella and put it down on the floor, along with the shopping bags. "Cream! Cheese! Amy!" She called out. "I'm back."

There was no reply.

"Cream!" Vanilla called again. "I'm home!"

There was still no reply. Puzzled, Vanilla walked into the lounge, hoping to find them there, only to find it empty. She walked back into the hallway and began to walk up the stairs. "They must still be upstairs. But why don't they answer?"

Vanilla reached the top of the stairs and approached Cream's bedroom door, which she found closed. She put her hand on the handle. "Cream?"

She turned the handle and the door swung open. She took a few steps forward, then gasped as she looked around the room. She found it empty and the window open. Vanilla began to gasp frantically. "Tails...he's...he's been here...and he's...he's taken Cream!"

Vanilla continued gasping frantically and raced down the stairs. Once she reached the bottom floor, she snatched up the receiver of the phone sitting on a small wooden table in the hallway and held it to her ear. "Operator! Give me the number for Team Chaotix please!"

A few seconds passed, then Vanilla heard Vector's voice. "Hello? Team Chaotix."

"Vector, it's Vanilla," Vanilla said between gasps of panic.

"Oh, hi!" Vector exclaimed, happy as always to see or hear Vanilla. "How may I be of Team Chaotix assistance?"

"Please help me," said Vanilla quietly. "My...little girl...is missing..." And with that, Vanilla dropped the receiver and fell to her knees, weeping softly.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, a black van with the words "Team Chaotix" in yellow pulled up outside Vanilla's house. Vector, who had been driving, got out first, followed by Espio and Charmy.

"Remind me what we're doing again," complained Charmy.

"I've told you," Vector grumbled, annoyed. "That little bunny has gone missing again, and we have to find her."

"Are you sure about that?" Charmy whined. "She's gone missing loads of times. Are you sure you aren't just trying to get close to her mom?"

"Um, no!" Vector panicked, waving his hands frantically, before ringing the doorbell. "She's defiantly missing, and as a good finder, I have to find her, with you two by my side."

"Well, I don't know about you being a _good _finder," muttered Espio, his arms folded. "But your finding isn't any worse than your driving. You nearly run over two kids on our way here."

Just then, the front door opened, and the three members of Team Chaotix found themselves facing a very upset Vanilla, whose eyes were still teary from crying earlier. She was looking miserably down at the ground, but then looked up to face Vector. "Oh, hello, Vector."

"Hello," replied Vector smiling. "Are you okay?"

Vanilla went back to looking down at the ground. Espio frowned at Vector and nudged him with his elbow. Vector put his arms around Vanilla. She returned the hug and sobbed softly. Charmy put his hand to his mouth thoughtfully. _So Cream really is missing then, _he thought._ Her Mom sure ain't alright. I hope Cream is._

Later, they were all sitting in the lounge, drinking cups of tea. Vector was sitting on the couch next to Vanilla, his hand placed on her back. Charmy and Espio were each occupying an armchair.

"I'm certain that Tails has got her," said Vanilla quietly. She had stopped crying, but was still upset. "Had you heard that he had killed Sonic?"

"Oh, we had heard alright," remarked Espio. "Who have thought he would kill Sonic?"

"At least now we know Sonic isn't responsible for this!" Vector boomed loudly. "As he was the last times."

Vanilla looked up sadly at him, so Vector, feeling uneasy, decided to leave. "Well, we'd better go search for your daughter."

"Where are we going to look?" asked Charmy.

"Well, Tails is believed to be in Mobius Low Town. So if he has Cream, she must be there too." Vector turned to Vanilla. "Don't you worry. We find your daughter, her chao too, and see that they come to no harm."

"Thank you, Vector," replied Vanilla softly, and she hugged him tight. "When you find her, you'll get the biggest reward ever."

Vector smiled and hugged her back. "Oh, I don't want anything. All I want is to see that you and your daughter are alright. That's all I want for my reward."

Charmy looked over to Espio and smirked. "I think Tails has abducted Vector too. This guy can't be him. Vector would never turn down a huge reward."

Vector broke his hug with Vanilla and looked up, fuming. "What was that?!"

"Nothing!" squeaked Charmy.

* * *

Team Chaotix arrived at Mobius Low Town at sunset. The rain had now stopped completely and the grey clouds had parted the reveal a beautiful orange sky.

"Gee, considering this town is full of crime," remarked Vector thoughtfully, "it looks like a nice place at sunset to take Vanilla."

"Don't get your hopes up," muttered Espio. "Right now, we gotta find Cream. And with any luck, we'll find Tails too and arrest him."

"I hope we don't find him," shivered Charmy. "I don't wanna face a cold-blooded killer."

"Then you shouldn't have joined the force!" Vector yelled. "We're the police. We expect to face killers. You should have joined the circus to show the world what a clown you are!"

"That works for me!" Charmy piped, and he attempted to fly off.

Vector reached out and grabbed him by the wings, stopping him from going anywhere. "Oh no you don't! C'mon!" And he led the team into the depths of the town.

* * *

Not far away, Tails was walking through an alleyway, still holding onto the flower pot. The alleyway was filled with trash cans, garbage bags and all kinds of litter, which blew in the wind along the ground. He came to the end of the alleyway and glanced around the corner, looking down the street. He squinted his eyes and gasped when he spotted Team Chaotix in the distance, walking down the street. "Team Chaotix! They must be here looking for me! I'd better not leave this alleyway! I'd better stay here!"

He took a few steps back so that Team Chaotix would spot him peering around the corner, then suddenly, he felt a pair of arms wrap around his torso from behind, and a high-pitch voice called out from behind him. "Gotcha!"

Tails looked back in surprise to find Cream clutching onto him. "Cream? What are you doing?"

"I'm taking you in, you cold-blooded killer!"

Tails knew she was no real threat to him, as she wasn't as strong as him, so he decided he wouldn't hurt her, like he had done to Knuckles and Shadow. He put the flower pot down on the ground in front of him, placed his hands on Cream's head and gently pushed, trying to get her off him. But Cream would not get off Tails with a gentle push, so he pushed a littler harder, but Cream just held on tighter. In the end, Tails pushed harder than he meant to and ended up from pushing Cream off him and causing her to fall backwards and land on her back on the ground, giving a whimper of pain.

"Cream!" Tails exclaimed, walking over to where she lay, feeling ashamed of himself. "Are you-?"

Before he could finish, he was interrupted by an angry cry, coming from up above him. "_CHAO!!!_" He looked up to see Cheese flying down towards him with an angry expression. The little Chao hit Tails hard across the face as she flew past him. Tails gave a cry and felt his face where Cheese had hit him, then cried out again as the Chao hit him on the face again as she flew past him again.

Tails quickly picked up one of the trash cans, threw off the lid, took out the garbage bag inside and held onto the trash can. He saw Cheese flying towards him again, about to hit him again, and when she was close enough, he threw the can over his head and brought it down over the Chao and placed it hard on the ground. Cheese was trapped.

"Cheese!" Cream cried out, and attempted to stand, but winced in pain. While she struggled to her feet, Tails opened the garbage bag he had thrown out of the trash can and turned it upside down, letting the garbage inside fall out onto the floor. By the time Cream managed to get to her feet, he was ready for her. As she attempt to run towards the upturned trash can, he jumped in front of her, gave her a fierce look to scare her and threw the bag over her. As she began screaming and struggled to get out, he turned the bag upright, causing her to fall to the bottom, and tied the bag up. He was glad to see that the bag had a small hole in it for her to get oxygen, but he felt very ashamed of himself. He placed the squirming bag next to the upturned trash can, from inside which came banging, as Cheese knocked herself against the metal of the can, trying to get free.

"I'm sorry, Cream," Tails said quietly. Just then, he heard footsteps come from the corner of the end of the alleyway and remembered Team Chaotix were here. Quickly, he picked up the flower pot off the ground and flew upwards and through an open window of one of the buildings of the alleyway. He found himself in a dusty apartment, that looked to be abandoned, but it still had all it's furniture.

Tails placed the flower pot on the window sill and gazed out of the window. He saw Team Chaotix walk by the end of the alleyway, only to be distracted by the squirming garbage bag and the banging noise from the upturned trash can. They turned into the alleyway and first turned over the trash can, to find Cheese inside. They were surprised to see her, then Charmy exclaimed, "That's Cream's Chao!" He pointed to the garbage bag. "That must be her."

The free members of Team Chaotix raced over to the bag, undid the knot and Cream emerged from inside, gasping in fright.

"Cream!" Charmy cried. "Are you alright?"

"I think so," replied Cream sadly. Then she smiled when Cheese flew over to her, chirping happily. She hugged the Chao tight. "Cheese! You're alright!"

"Chao!"

"Your mother will be so happy to see you," said Espio. "She's so worried. She thinks Tails had got you."

"Actually, I went to look for Tails on my own."

"Well, you shouldn't have done that," said Espio sternly. "He's a murderer. If you ran into him, you wouldn't stand a chance."

"I ran into him just now."

"You did?!" Vector cried with surprise.

"Yeah, he's the one who tied me up in the bag." Cream began looking around. "Where'd he go?"

The five of them glanced all around them. Inside the apartment, Tails ducked from view in case they looked up. Then he heard Vector say, "Well, you're just lucky to be alive, kid. "C'mon. Let's get you home. I can't wait to see the look on your Mom's face when she sees you."

"Yeah, but don't try flirting with her again, Vector," said Charmy cheekily.

"You like my Mom?" smiled Cream.

"Uhh..." Vector stammered, rubbing the back of his head. Cream giggled and held onto Cheese with one arm and, without knowing why, held onto Charmy's arm with her other arm, taking him by surprise. Then she followed Team Chaotix to go to their van to be taken home.

Tails watched them until they were out of sight from the apartment window, then lay down on a dirty moth-eaten couch that was in the middle of the room. He soon fell asleep, soon to wake up in a number of hours, to start another day running from both the law and his former friends.

* * *

**So, Team Chaotix made an appearance in the story. I tried to get a bit of humour from them, but sorry if it isn't that good or there isn't much. As well as this, I put a few minor Vectilla and Chaream moments in here. Even if this isn't a romance story, I like putting some small moments between couples in here. ;) There's plenty more where they came from, including one I can't wait to write. **


	14. Chapter 14

**Been a while since my last update, huh? I'll have to try and make more time to write, since I'm going back to school tomorrow. (Shudders)**

**Well, here's the new chapter. But those who read the last one within the twenty-four hours after it was uploaded, please have a quick read over the part with Tails, since when I posted it, there was a major story item I forgot to include, which has been included now. Nothing major. Just has a bit of continuity for the entire story.**

**

* * *

**

Tails woke up at quarter past twelve the next morning. He sat up, stretched and yawned. Then he stood up and walked over to the window sill where the flower stood in its pot. He looked out of the window, seeing that it was a sunny day and that nobody was about. _I'd better not go out, _he thought. _In case the police or anyone I know spots me. I'll just stay here._

He picked up the flower pot and walked back over the couch. He sat down with the plant pot in his lap and gazed down at it, enjoying the silence, which he was sure wouldn't last.

* * *

"Awful!" Amy cried out angrily. "This toast is mouldy, this milk in the cereal is off and the tea is freezing!"

She, Knuckles, Shadow and Rouge were sitting in the canteen of a bed and breakfast. Having spent the previous night in lumpy beds, they had come out of their messy rooms for breakfast, only to find that the cooks didn't seem to be doing their jobs right.

"We're not here to play resturant critic, Amy," Knuckles reminded her grimly. "We're fox hunting."

"Yeah, but honestly, this hotel is the worst one I've ever been to. In fact, this town is the most horrible town I've ever been to. Not even Doctor Eggman or Dark Oak would fit in here. Only a criminal wanted for murder like Tails would."

"What happened to Cream and Cheese?" Rouge asked in a worried tone. "Did Tails get them?"

"No, I phoned Cream from the phone in my room last night," Amy replied. "She said that the Team Chaotix brought her and Cheese home. At least I think that's what she said. I couldn't hear very well, because it was a bad line." Amy stood up. "I'm gonna go right now and complain to the manger about this terrible hotel!"

Shadow stood up. "I'll come with you too." He turned to Knuckles and Rouge. "You two coming?"

Knuckles showed Shadow a clenched fist and grinned. "I'm gonna save my anger for Tails. After hitting me with an iron bar yesterday, when I'm done with him, he won't know what hit him. All he'll realize that he will have woken up inside a prison cell."

Rouge put a hand on Knuckles' arm. "I think you should let me handle Tails today. I don't want you getting hurt again. You go with the others." She stood up and headed towards the door leading to the lobby.

"Wait! Rouge!" Knuckles called after her.

Rouge looked over her shoulder back at Knuckles and gave him a sultry smile, fluttering her eyelashes. "Don't you worry, Knucky. Like you told me; you won't get rid of me that easily." And she disappeared out of the door, leaving Knuckles speechless.

* * *

Rouge, however, soon forgot about Tails and was more interested in what the shops in the town had to offer. She looked around many fashion shops, but was unimpressed to find that most of the clothes on sale were stained and ripped, itchy or too expensive. She tried to complain to many of the staff, only to get a yelling at and becoming banned from the shop, although she told the staff on the way out that she wouldn't be coming back anyway.

Soon, whilst walking down one of the streets, Rouge spotted a small cosmetics store, and was engrossed by the bottles of perfume on display in the shop window. So she quickly disappeared inside, raced to the perfume aisle and spent the next fifteen minutes spraying herself with the perfume samples on display.

"Mm, this is all so lovely," she mused, after spraying herself with the ninth bottle. "This perfume must be the only good thing to come from this town."

Just then, an ardvark woman came over the Rouge. "Excuse me, Madam, but are you buying any of those?"

Rouge reached into the pockets, only to find they were empty. She looked sheepishly at the lady. "Oh, er, I didn't bring any money."

"Then get out!" The woman walked behind Rouge and, ignoring her protesting, pushed her towards the door of the shop. "And don't waste your time in here again."

The woman pushed Rouge out of the shop and slammed the door behind her. Rouge dusted herself down. "Well, no one around her seems to have any sense of customer service."

She looked down the street and spotted six policemen walking in the distance. She suddenly remembered about Tails. "Oh yeah. I'm fox hunting, not being a shop inspector. And she walked down the street after the police.

The policemen rounded a corner turned into the alleyway next to the apartment where, unknown to them, Tails was hiding. Up inside the room where he was hiding, Tails heard voices outside. He put the plant pot down and walked over to the window. He looked down and spotted the policemen in the street. He gasped with horror, and that was his mistake. One of the policemen and had heard him, looked up and spotted him in the window. "There he is! Up there!" He shouted, pointing at Tails.

All the policemen looked up Tails and began shouting. Tails gasped even louder and clasped his hand to his mouth. Some of the policemen where about to run towards the entrance of the apartment, but one of them, who happened to be the chief inspector, who had tried to catch Tails at his house, stopped them and took out his megaphone, which he spoke into. "Miles Prower! This is the M.P.D. Come out with your hands up!"

Tails stared down at them in silence through the window, then quickly withdrew, shivering in fear.

"Okay, men!" The chief shouted to the others. "Let's go get him." With that, the police ran back into the street where the entrance to the building was. One of them kicked the door off its hinges and they all ran quickly into the lobby and up the stairs.

Inside his room, Tails quickly grabbed the plant pot and twisted his tails around each other again. "We'll just excape them the same way we escaped them last time." With that, he began to fly and flew quickly out of the window. He flew over the alleyway and over the street, where, to his surprise, he spotted Rouge on the ground below, and, to his horror, she spotted him too. "There you are!"

Rouge began to fly upwards and chased after Tails. Tails looked back in fear and flew as quickly as he could. But Rouge was quick and soon caught up with Tails. She grabbed onto his tails and began to fall back down towards the ground. Tails began to cry out and held the plant pot close to his chest.

"Ha! I've got you now, fox boy!" Rouge smirked triumphantly. Then she realized that she had let herself fall. She cried out and hit the ground hard. Tails landed on top of her on his back - still holding onto the plant pot - causing her to cry out in pain.

Tails quickly stood up and was about to run, but Rouge quickly grabbed onto his tails with one hand. "Oh no you don't!" She stood up and smirked. Tails raised a hand and went to pull her hand off his tails, but Rouge grabbed it with her free hand. Her smile widened and her eyes narrowed. "You're coming with me."

"STOP!!!"

Both Tails and Rouge nearly jumped out of their skins when they heard someone shout near them. They turned to see several policemen pointing guns at them, which made Rouge shudder, as well as Tails.

"Step away from the fox!" One of the policemen yelled.

Trembling, Rouge let go of Tails and took a few steps away from him. For a moment, nobody moved. Everybody stood absolutely still. Then suddenly, Tails quickly twisted his tails around each other and flew upwards.

"Freeze!" One of the policemen shouted. He turned to the others. "Open fire!" And the policemen all began firing at the little.

Tails flew off as quickly as he could, scared of his life and tried hard to dodge the bullets that were being fired at him. The police ran along the ground after them, firing their guns. The bullets flew into the air like flies and flew past Tails as he dodge them.

Then suddenly, one bullet hit Tails on his his right tail. Tails cried out in pain and his tails stopped spinning. The next thing he knew, he was falling towards the ground again. Holding onto the plant pot tight, he saw that he was about to land in an empty trash can on the side of a street. Shutting his eyes tight, he curled up into a ball and let himself continue falling, until at last, he landed with a clang and a bang into the trash can.

He remained curled into a ball for a moment, then quickly poked his head out. He noticed the lid of the trash can was right next to it, so he reach out and put it on top of the can. Then he curled back into a ball and listened out.

For a moment, there was silence, then he heard the footsteps and shouting of the police, who were nearby.

"Where is he?!"

"This is where he was over when I shot him down!"

"He must have run off as soon as he landed! Let's go this way!"

Tails listened out and kept still, until the sound of the police running and shouting had died down. He put down the plant pot and lifted up the lid of the trash can and looked out. Nobody was in sight, but he decided to stay where he was for a while. He noticed a small dirty rag on the ground next to the trash can, so he picked it up and went down into the can again, putting the lid back on.

Tails held onto the tail which had been shot. A trail of blood leaked out of the bullet hole and onto his yellow fur. The rear end of the bullet was sticking out, so with his finger and thumb, Tails tried to pull it out. It took a bit of effort, but he managed to pull it out, and he groaned in pain. He took the rag and tied it firmly around the bullet hole to stop the bleeding. He then let go of the tail and let it drop onto the bottom the the trash can. One thing was for sure; if he ran into someone who wanted to apprehend him again, he wasn't going to escape by flying.

Tails curled back into the position he was in when he fell into the trash can, and let the hours pass, waiting in silence until it was time to escape from someone again.

* * *

**Sorry if the detail in this chapter is bland or weak. I was in no writing mood, but I just had to update. I'll have to do more writing when I get some free time after school.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Those of you who haven't stopped reading and died of boredom, thanks for sticking by and giving up your free time to read it. I'm well aware that my story is becoming a bit boring. I was bored myself when I wrote the last chapter. All the last chapters contained was Tails running from the others. I should have made him find clues as to who the killer is, but it's late for that now. :( **

**However, the ending of this chapter is what I've been looking forward to writing the most in this story. :) I think you'll look forward to the next chapter after you've read it. For now, just _try _to enjoy this one. :P**

* * *

Tails stayed silently in the trash can for hours, nursing his wounded tail, feeling sorry for himself. He wondered what he was going to do when he would leave the trash can. All he would do then would be running away again. Both the police and his former friends were bent on catching him for the murder he didn't commit. They would stop at nothing until he was caught. Nobody believed that he was innocent. Tails began to wonder if there was any point in trying to run away.

He lifted up the lid of the trash can and looking around the street. It was getting dark. The light blue sky from earlier had been replaced by a dark blue one full of stars, shining brightly. Tails was surprised buy how much time had past since he had hidden away in the trash can. He glanced around, finding no one in sight, then picked up the plant pot sitting at the bottom of the trash can before climbing out.

As Tails began to walk down the street, he decided that the best thing to do would be to leave Mobius Low Town. The others were probably still there, trying to find him. But now that it was getting late, Tails assumed they'd given up searching for the night. As long as he didn't run into any police men, he could easily escape to another town and hide there. At least, until they caught up with him again. Tails was sure they wouldn't give up, just because he had left town.

He continued to walk down the street, holding the plant pot in front of him as he walked, when he suddenly heard a faint sound, coming from behind him. It sounded like footsteps. Afraid, he quickly looked over his shoulder - only to find that no one was in sight. All that was behind him was the two lines of shops and houses - one each side of the road - and a pile of cardboard boxes on one side. Tails was about to check to see it someone was hiding behind the boxes, but he shrugged it off. "I'm just getting paranoid. All this running away has really gotten to me."

He continued to walk down the street and, to his relief, the only footsteps he heard were his own.

At least for a few minutes.

After a while, he heard footsteps that were not his, coming up right behind him again. Someone was definitely coming up behind him, and fast. When they were right behind him, he looked back, and had enough time to see green eyes of fury, before something hit him hard across the left side of his head. Crying out in surprise and pain, Tails was knocked off his feet. As he fell towards the ground, the plant pot was knocked out off his hand, but landed safely upright on the concrete ground.

Tails, however, didn't have a landing just as happy. He landed on his right side, his body on top on his right arm, which hurt badly as it hit the ground. Tails lay where he was, gasping in pain, then he looked up in terror to see Amy standing over him, armed with her Piko Piko Hammer, her face full of determination.

She stood over Tails, gazing furiously down at him (though a little surprised by how weak he looked), then raised the hammer up over her head. "This is for Sonic!"

Tails raised his arms up in fright, but before he could stop her, Amy brought the hammer down, the flat end of its head hitting Tails hard in the face.

Tails felt a throbbing pain in his head. For a moment, he was dazed. Then, he watched as Amy brought the hammer over her head again, intending to hit him again. But as she quickly brought it down again, before it could hit Tails in the face again, Tails quickly grabbed the handle of the hammer and shot Amy a fierce look.

Amy's expression then immediately changed from a fierce one to a frightened one. Still holding the hammer's handle, Tails got to his feet, never taking his fierce blue eyes off the frightened pink hedgehog, and pulled the hammer forcefully out of her hands. He raised it above his head, as if about to hit her. Amy cried out in terror and held her hands in front of her face. Tails, however, just held the hammer where it was, as well as his look. He didn't intend on hurting Amy. But she had made up her mind that he had killed Sonic. There was no point trying to make her believe him. Tails knew the only to escape being arrest for what he hadn't done was to act a little like the killer she thought he was.

So he just held the hammer above his head for a few seconds, watching Amy whimper in fright and hating himself for what he was doing. Then he slowly brought the hammer down and looked away from Amy. He narrowed his eyes, not only to make himself look more fierce, but to hide the shame held within. "You're not worth it," he said in a gruff voice, which he himself didn't recognise, for it sounded so sinister. Then, using strength he didn't know he had, he broke the hammer's head off the handle, using his bare hands. He threw the head and handle down at Amy's feet, before picking up the plant pot, turning and running off. He had no idea where he was heading. All he knew was he had to get way from Amy, away from his former friends, away from everyone on Mobius.

Amy just stood where she was, still panting in fright. Her green eyes widened and began tearing up.

"Amy!"

Amy heard the voices that called her, and turned to see Knuckles, Shadow and Rouge running up to her. They stopped right by her, and saw how frightened she looked.

"Are you alright?" asked Rouge in a concerned voice.

"What happened?" asked Shadow.

Amy threw her arms around the black hedgehog and sobbed fitfully. "Tails! He...was just here. I thought...he was going to kill me. I..."

Rouge stood behind Amy while she cried in Shadow's arms and rubbed her back. "Come on, hun. I think we should let the police deal with Tails now. We've all tried to catch him ourelves. There's nothing we can do. We were all lucky to get out alive. Let's get you home."

Amy let go of Shadow and wiped her eyes."

"Yeah," agreed Shadow. "The police will catch him. They always do catch criminals. We'll let them do their job."

"Alright," sulked Knuckles huffily. He raised a fist. "But if Tails comes anywhere near where we live, I'll break every bone in his body, then rip his tails clean off!"

Rouge walked alongside Amy, continuing to rub her back and comfort her, while Knuckles and Shadow walked behind grimly. No one said a word as they made their way home.

* * *

Further away, Tails found himself in some grasslands. He sat down on a rock at the bottom of a short grassy slope. In front of him was just more grassland. Above him, the moon was full and the stars were shining beautifully.

But Tails was is no mood to take much notice of this landscape. He gazed miserably down at the flower, which sat in its pot in front of him on the grass. Its petals gave a glow.

"What's the point of running?" Tails asked the silent flower. "They're all coming after me, surely. My former friends _and _the police." His eyes began tearing up. "They all think I'm a murderer. I _never _killed Sonic. No one believes me. No one." He brought his palms up to his eyes and cried softly into them.

"Oh, Tails...I believe you."

Tails stopped sobbing and lowered his hands. Someone had spoken to him. Startled, he looked around to see who it was, but no one was in sight.

"I know you didn't kill Sonic."

It came again. It seemed to be coming from all around him. Tails looked frantically over his shoulder, towards the top of the slope behind him, but no one was up there. He looked in front of him again, but no one was in front of him.

"I know you're not a murderer. You're the most kindest, sweetest friend I've ever had in my whole life."

"Where are...?!" Tails began, then he hesitated. He recognised the voice. It was the sweet voice of a female child. A voice he had not heard since the defeat of Dark Oak which resulted in a tragedy. A voice he thought he would never hear again.

He looked to his left. "Where are you?!"

"Right here, Tails."

This time, the voice came from his right. Tails quickly looked to his right - and gasped.

Standing there was someone he had been longing to see, but thought he would never see again. It had to be impossible. But there she was, although when he had last seen her, she was in a new adult form. But now, strangely, she had gone back to how she looked as a child. She was small again, the roses in her hair had gone back to being buds and the red orb she would have embedded in her chest was back.

But it didn't matter. She was back, looking as beautiful as ever. She was looking at Tails with her amazing blue eyes.

And she was smiling as him.

"Hello, Tails."

"C...C...Cosmo?!"

* * *

**So there you go. That is the part I have been looking forward to writing most: Cosmo coming back! Or at least, sort of. If you don't get what I mean by that, it'll be explained in the next chapter. **

**Sorry if this kind of unrealistic event of a dead character appearing again ruins the story of you. But this part what one of the very reasons why I even chose to write the story. I hope I can make it touching. I hope it enlightens you Cosmo lovers. :)**

**Now, one quick spoiler for the next chapter, which you'll want to know. It comes to the moment you've all been waiting for: revealing who the killer is! :D That's right. As we near the end of the story, it's time to find out who it was that provided everthing that happened in this story, who killed Sonic and who framed Tails. Now, while you wait for the truth-revealing chapter to be written, it's time to vote who you think the killer is. If you go onto my profile now, there's a poll there, asking who you think the killer is. The options include lots of characters, including characters have appeared in the story and characters who haven't - or maybe, not yet. Only one of them is correct...**

**So I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. Until then, goodbye, and happy voting. :)**


	16. Chapter 16

**The votes have been coming in a lot over the week. Now the poll is closed and the new chapter is here. Let's now find out who the killer is...**

**

* * *

**

Cosmo continued to look at Tails, smiling at him. Tails, for a moment, just stared at her in disbelief, eyes wide, mouth hanging open. He then suddenly jumped to his feet. "COSMO!!!"

He ran as fast as he could towards her, his arms open wide, intending to hug her. But as he came right up to her, he ran right through her. "Huh?!"

Shocked, he looked over his shoulder to see Cosmo, standing behind him, and now smiling a little sadly. Tails turned his body towards her and raised a hand. He reached out to touch her face, but his hand went right through her. It was then that Tails noticed that he could see through Cosmo. He began to feel a little nervous. "C...Cosmo, why can't I touch you? Are you a...?"

Cosmo nodded solemnly. "Yes, Tails...I am a ghost."

Tails' eyes widened, and they also teared up. He had hoped that Cosmo had come back to life, but what she had just told him meant she was still dead.

Cosmo continued to smile at him and a silver tear leaked out of her eye. "Don't be sad. I'm here for you."

Tails sniffed, wiped his eyes and smiled sadly at her. "It's so good to see you again, Cosmo."

"You too, Tails. I've missed you so much."

Tails stood looking at Cosmo in silence, admiring her beauty. He could barely believe she was here, even if she was still dead. It had to be a dream. If it was, he never wanted to wake up and go back to the cruel world waiting for him.

"So...you've been watching me?" He finally spoke.

"Yes, Tails. I know what's been happening with you. And I know what everyone thinks isn't true. I know you didn't kill Sonic." Cosmo paused for a moment, but before Tails could speak, she said, "And he knows it too!"

"Huh?!"

Cosmo turned towards the miles of grassland. "Right, Sonic."

"Right, Cosmo!"

Tails gasped in disbelief. Another voice he recognised and thought he would never hear again had spoke. He continued to look out into the grassland, and then, from out of nowhere, a ghostly figure appeared a little bit in front of him. The figure was blue with green eyes. He was wearing red running shoes with a stripe going through each of them and he had spines on the back of his head and body. Tails clasped his hand to his mouth. It was his best friend who had been killed - Sonic the Hedgehog.

The ghost of the hedgehog took a few steps towards them. Tails felt a little nervous, thinking Sonic would hate him for way he treated him when he last saw him alive. But when Sonic stopped in front of him, Tails saw that he was smiling kindly at him. "Hey little buddy!"

Tails stared at Sonic in silence. He wanted to smile and feel happy that his best friend was here and talking to him. But somehow, he couldn't. He was still dead, even if he was talking to him. And he had treated him so horrible on the last day of his life.

All of a sudden, Tails fell to his knees and broke down, sobbing hard. Sonic bent down and looked at Tails' miserable face. "Hey, pal. Don't cry. Or you'll have me crying too."

"Suh...Suh...Sonic...I'm...so sorry."

"Sorry? What for? You didn't do this to me."

"I feel like I d...did," wept Tails sadly. "I tr...treated you so...badly. And then, th...th...this happens to you! I...It's all my fault."

"Oh, Tails," Sonic smiled. "Don't worry about it. I forgive you for what happened between eyes."

"Me too," added Cosmo, sitting down on the grass. "I saw what happened between you two, Tails. I honestly couldn't believe that was you."

Tails looked back at Cosmo, sniffing. "I'm...sorry, Cosmo."

"It's okay, Tails," Cosmo smiled kindly. "I forgive you."

"And, Tails, don't blame yourself," Sonic said softly. Tails turned back to look at him. "It isn't your fault. There was nothing you could do. No one could." Sonic gritted his teeth. "Apart from the one who did this to me _and _framed you."

Tails wiped his eyes and looked at Sonic curiously. "Do you know who did this to you, Sonic?"

Sonic's eyes narrowed. He looked at Tails grimly, then closed his eyes and nodded.

"Who?!" Tails asked desperately.

Sonic looked at Cosmo thoughtfully. She seemed to understand his thoughts and nodded in agreement before turning to Tails. "Let us show you what Sonic saw."

They all got to their feet. Sonic and Cosmo stood on each of Tails' sides. Tails wondered what they were doing, and found out as their raised their hands up. From each of their hands shot bright white beams, much to Tails' surprise and puzzlement. The beams joined together in mid-air to form a white rectangle, which floated in the air.

The entire recantgle then filled up to reveal an abandoned street at night. It didn't take Tails long to realise that this was the street where he had found Sonic's body and where he had been framed. As he looked up at the street scene, he noticed hat it was moving, as if in the point of view of someone. "Sonic, is this your point of view?"

"Yes, Tails. These was the last things I saw being alive."

Tails sighed miserably, looking at the old abandoned street in the picture. Such a miserable place for his best friend to die. A much better place would be in his or Amy's arms.

As Tails continued to watch, he saw that Sonic had Sonic had stopped by a street lamp.

"This is it," Sonic told him. "Watch now to find out who did this to me and caused you all this trouble."

From inside the street scene, the sound of footsteps could be heard from behind. Tails didn't think he could watch, but made sure he kept his eyes fixed to find out who killed his best friend.

As the sound of footsteps came louder, the street became a blur as Sonic's head turned quickly. Then, to Tails' fright, a shiny knife, held in a white gloved hand, filled up the picture. Tails heard screaming inside the picture. Then the knife was brought down and went off picture, followed immediately by the sound of the blade cutting into his flesh. Tails clasped his hand to his mouth, feeling sick and horrified. Beside him, Sonic winced, as if feeling the pain of the blade all over again. Cosmo just continued to watch sadly.

In the picture, the screaming immeditly stopped. The vision Tails was seeing appeared to be going darker. Tails watched as Sonic began to crumble to the ground.

And that was when Tails spotted the killer, much to his horror, in the picture.

He found himself looking up at someone, almost identical to Sonic, filling up the picture. He was a hedgehog, which was what made him most like Sonic. He was looking down at his victim with a sinister smile, not a friendly one, like Sonic's. The picture went entirely black and the picture disappeared, but not before Tails was able to spot, to his horror, that the hedgehog had white chest hair, red lines running along his body and that everywhere else was black.

"_SHADOW!!!_" Tails screamed angrily. "_IT WAS SHADOW!!!_"

He paced back and fourth, unable to believe any of what had just been happening over the past few days. His head was swimming madly. "That...traitor!! He...I thought you two had actually become friends! Ans he did _this _to you!"

"Tails!" Sonic cried. "Calm down!"

"_Calm down!!!_" Tails bellowed loudly. He spotted pacing and looked at Sonic, his eyes tearing up again. "Look at you, Sonic! Shadow has done this to you! You didn't deserve to die! You should be alive, running around and joking with us! You shouldn't be dead!" He then turned to Cosmo. "And you shouldn't be dead either. You two are my best friends. You should be here...with me."

"I'm sorry, Tails," Cosmo sighed miserably. "But there's nothing you can do now for our lives."

"But there is something you can do for someone else's life," put in Sonic. "_And _it'll sort out the terrible mess Shadow has gotten you into."

Tails looked at Sonic thoughtfully_. _"What, Sonic?"

"Tails," Sonic said quietly. "You must face and defeat Shadow."

* * *

**So there you go. That's who the killer is: Shadow! Yeah, I know most of you suspected him. You didn't exactly have to be Sherlock Holmes or know every fact there is to know about Sonic to figure that out. No doubt the main giveaway was all the Shadamy moments. **

**But luckily for me, they weren't obvious enough for everyone who is reading this to suspect him, as other characters had votes. There were votes given to likely suspects, like Tails Doll, Scourge, Sally, Jet and Rouge; some unlikely suspects like Big and Cream and Cheese got some votes; even Amy got a vote. But there you go. Shadow, who happened to have ten votes, while every other voted character(s) got one or two. So now you know. And now that Tails knows too that Shadow not only killed Sonic, but framed him too, will he face him and take revenge? Find out in the next chapter, as we near the end...**


	17. Chapter 17

**Bit of a late update. I had meant to update two days ago, but didn't have much of a chance. I'm hoping to get this story done soon, since it's near the end. So here's the new chapter.**

* * *

"What?!" Tails asked in disbelief.

"I want you," said Sonic slowly, "to face and defeat Shadow."

Tails looked at Sonic as if he were having trouble taking it in. "Why?"

Sonic sighed. "You see, Tails, I've been watching the way Shadow behaves when he's around Amy. He's being very affectionate with her, as he's in love with her. And the way she's reacting with him makes me think she loves him too."

"Are you jealous of him?"

"Yes."

"So, you want me to defeat Shadow, not to avenge your death, but because you're jealous that Amy's fallen in love with him?"

"No, Tails, that's not it."

Tails frowned. "Then what is it?!"

Sonic gave Tails a solemn and worried look. It was very rare for Tails to see his best friend, who often enjoyed joking around, looking so serious.

"I'm think Shadow might be planning to kill _her _too?"

"He is?!" Tails' eyes widened in shock.

"We don't know for sure," Cosmo said quietly. "But we think he is. From what we've seen, it's less likely he actually loves her, and that he's luring her into a false sense of security. And if he killed once, he might kill again."

"And since he has killed once," Sonic added, "you, Tails, must do whatever it takes to make sure he doesn't kill again."

Tails began to feel worried again. "But, Sonic! Amy thinks _I _killed you! She isn't gonna believe me if I try to convince her that Shadow did it! Especially since it looks like she's falling in love with him!"

"Amy is just upset," Sonic said quietly. "Since I was dead at the hands of someone else, she would believe the first thing she heard about how it happened, whether what she heard was a lie or not. Besides, you were once her friend, Tails. She knew we're best friends. I'm sure if she learned the truth, she would realize again that you would never do this to me."

Tails sat down on the grass and held his head in his palms. He had seen how Amy acted whenever she saw him. She had made up her mind that Tails was responsible for the death of the one she loved. She wouldn't think twice about handing him over to the police. There was no way that he would be able convince her that he was innocent.

He looked up at Sonic and Cosmo. They were looking down pleadingly at him. Tails didn't know what to do.

"Please, Tails?" Cosmo begged sadly.

Tails thought for a moment. "Suppose I agree, and go up to Shadow to try and stop him. What do I do?"

"Whatever it takes," said Sonic bluntly.

"But, Sonic!" Tails cried desperately. "We're dealing with a killer here! What if he kills me!"

"You don't have to be afraid of death," said Cosmo softly. "It is just eternal peace. Isn't it, Sonic?"

Tails thought for a moment. "Fine then. I'll find him and let him kill me!"

"Tails!" Cosmo cried in horror.

"I wanna die now. There's nothing here for me anymore. Everyone hates me. You guys have left me. Well I wanna die and be with you guys and be at eternal peace and-"

"No, Tails," Sonic said sternly.

"Huh?" Tails' face fell. "Why, Sonic?"

"I told you. I need you to make sure Shadow doesn't kill Amy. I know she doesn't believe you and this is hard for you. But I don't want Shadow to end Amy's life like he ended mine. Even if she would be with me afterwards, I'd rather her live a happy life, rather than being dead with me. Save that for when it's the time when it's time for all our friends to go. Then we'll all be together. But right now, I want Amy - and _you -_ to live."

Tails gazed at Sonic, noticing how serious he looked. All Tails wanted to was to end his miserable life so that he could leave the ones who hated him and be with the ones he lost, which he loved him. But Tails knew Sonic and Cosmo were depending on him. And one thing which Tails always had to do for them - even if they weren't alive now - was to never let them down.

"Alright," he said at last. "I'll do my best."

Sonic and Cosmo smiled happily.

"Thank you, Tails," Cosmo said gratefully. "I know you'll do it."

"Thanks, buddy," Sonic added. "I appreciate it. Remember, I want you to live to as well as Amy. So please don't let Shadow kill you on purpose."

"I won't," promised Tails. "I'll try to stay alive, but I'll make sure Shadow doesn't kill Amy.

"Good. I'm counting on ya!"

"Don't worry, Sonic. I won't let you down."

"I know you won't," Sonic smiled. "If you survive, bring Amy here. We'll be waiting here for you both." He turned to Cosmo. "Won't we?"

"We sure will."

"Okay, sure." Tails looked all around him. All he could see was miles of grassland. He had no idea where he was or which way was home. "Um, which way do I go?"

"Just go in a straight line behind them," Sonic explained. "I see your tails are in no flying shape though."

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to walk. Hope nobody sees me."

"It very late, so not many people are about. You have a long walk ahead of you though. Pity I'm a ghost, eh? Otherwise I'd pick you up and carry you, and you'd be there in ten seconds flat."

All three of them shared a heartily laugh. Tails was very delighted to see that Sonic's sense of humour hadn't died.

They stopped the short laughter, but Sonic held his smile. "But if I wasn't a ghost. I'd be able to handle Shadow myself. But now I can't. So it's up to you, Tails."

"I'll do my best, Sonic. I won't let him lay a finger on Amy - or put a knife in her."

"Thank you, Tails." Sonic raised a hand and waved. "Well, I'll see you later, Tails. Goodbye - and good luck."

"Goodbye, Sonic."

Sonic lowered his hand and smiled at Tails. Then he faded away and disappeared. Tails held his smile and turned to Cosmo. She walked right up to him. "Tails, before you go, I have something to tell you."

Tails' heart skipped a beat. "You do?" He had a strong feeling she was going to say something he had longed to hear from her.

Cosmo looked up into his blue eyes. Tails felt a surge of excitement and nervousness. He looked down at Cosmo, smiling, but she looked as if she was having trouble finding the words to say. Finally, she looked away, smiled, and pointed at the flower in its pot, sitting on the grass. "Thank you for raising my child. You have made a wonderful parent."

"Oh." Tails turned to the flower, hiding his brief expression of disappointment from Cosmo, then smiled and turned back to her. "Anytime, Cosmo."

Cosmo continued to smile, then raised her hand. "Well, I'll see you later, Tails."

"Yeah, sure, Cosmo. It was so lovely to see you again." Tails raised a hand too, not taking his eyes off the beautiful ghost. Despite everything that had gone wrong for him, for the first time in months, he felt happy again, just for seeing the one he loved again, and it felt wonderful that she was happy to see him again too.

"Goodbye, Tails." And with that, Cosmo vanished into thin air.

"Goodbye, Cosmo," Tails smiled. Then, he turned around, picked up the plant pot, then walked towards up the hill and in a straight line towards home, bracing himself to fight Shadow.

* * *

**Yeah, sorry if this chapter was a disappointment. I bet you were expecting the fight between Tails and Shadow to be this chapter. I was gonna continue writing from whether I left, but I've left it to the next chapter, because I need to put a bit more thought into it. Final battles is something I'm not good at writing. They sometimes end up being short. If I had wrote this one now, it would defiantly be short. It might still be short in the next chapter, but I'd like to give it a bit of length to at least fill out the majority of a chapter, not a fraction of one. After that, there'll be one more chapter left. I'm disappointed myself. I wanna finish this story so that I can start some new ones. Now I've got an extra chapter to write. :P**

**Well, if the delayed battle was a disappointment, I still hope you enjoyed what happened in this chapter. And that when I do write it, you'll be able to enjoy it as well.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Okay guys, it's time now for Tails to take revenge on the one who killed his best friend and framed him for it. Will he succeed...?**

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* * *

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It took Tails forty-five minutes of walking in a straight line (whilst keeping an eye out for anyone searching for him), before he finally arrived back in the village where he lived. He stood in a spot and looked around, in case anyone was about. But no one was in sight and all the lights in the houses were switched off. Tails prayed Shadow, wherever he was, hadn't already done to Amy what Sonic feared.

Tails walked up to his house to find the front door ripped off its hinges. The doorway was blocked off by yellow police lines. Ignoring them, Tails walked through them, breaking them as he walked. He proceeded to walk up the stairs in the dark hallway, coming into his room, to find the bed quilt, pillow, bed sheets and curtains ripped up and everything else smashed to pieces.

After a moment of looking at his trashed room, Tails walked over to the window sill and placed the plant pot down on it. He looked at the flower, admiring how beautiful it had grown into. He found it hard to believe it was because of him that this flower had bloomed from a small seed to the beautiful living plant it was now.

"Well, I'm going now," he said to the silent flower. "I dunno if I'll be coming back. If I don't, I hope someone takes good care of you. I don't want you to die, like me, Cosmo and Sonic.

As usual, the flower remained silent, but its petals glowed again. Tails couldn't help feeling sad at thinking he would never see it again. It felt as though this flower was a child which both he and Cosmo had made. Even if they weren't together, as he had hoped they would, they were still the ones responsible for the flower's life.

Taking one last look at the flower he had taken care of, Tails turned and walked out of his room, down the stairs and out of his house, heading straight for Amy's, guessing Shadow would be there.

* * *

When Tails arrived, he tried the front door, but it was locked. He walked over to the lounge window and peered inside. It was dark, but he could just about see inside. There was no one in sight, but Tails spotted something on the carpet. It was the knife that had killed Sonic, still stained in blood and lying in the same spot which Tails had dropped it on when Amy had confronted him. Tails cursed himself for hanging onto it since he had discovered Sonic's body.

At that moment, the door leading to the hallway opened. Tails crouched down, in case whoever it was looked outside the lounge window. And when he saw who it was coming in, Tails felt a surge of anger. It was Shadow. Tails felt as though he could have exploded as he watched the one who had killed his best friend and framed him for it - as well as attempting to kill the one he loved.

Tails forced himself to remain calm for the moment, as he watched Shadow. wondering what he was doing, or what he might have already done. As Tails watched, Shadow noticed the knife lying on the carpet. He walked over to it and picked it up, then proceeded to take a few steps forward.

Then, from inside the hallway, both Tails and Shadow heard a voice. "Shadow?"

The voice made Tails sigh with relief, as it was Amy's voice. This meant Shadow had not killed her. _At least, not yet,_ Tails thought worriedly. _But is he going to?_

Shadow turned towards the door leading to the lounge, quickly hiding the blood-stained knife behind his back, just before Amy entered the room, having no idea Shadow was carrying the deadly weapon which killed Sonic, or that Tails was watching everything.

She walked up to Shadow, looking shyly up at him. "Shadow..." she said quietly.

"Yes, Amy?" Shadow replied, in a slow seductive voice. He brought his face close to her's. "What is it?"

Tails strained his ears as he listened to Amy speak. "I...I just wanna thank you...for being so kind to me...since Tails killed Sonic."

Tails once again felt a surge of anger at this lie, but he knew that it wasn't Amy's fault. It was Shadow's for making her believe it.

"Don't worry, Amy," replied Shadow, continuing to speak in a luring voice. He raised his free hand and placed a finger under Amy's chin. "Everything is going to be alright now. Trust me."

Amy stared up in Shadow's eyes, her eyelids drooping, as if she were being hypnotised by the burning red eyes. Tails kept his own eyes glued to the scene before him, wondering what to do.

"Close your eyes..." Shadow continued to speak slowly and seductively. "And relax..."

Amy's eyelids dropped and her lips parted as she drew her face even closer to Shadow's. With her eyes closed, Amy did not see the knife being brought out from behind Shadow's back. But Tails did and he began to panic. He looked around frantically, wondering what do to. While he panicked, Shadow slowly brought the knife around Amy until he was holding it behind her back.

That was when Tails spotted a brick lying on the concrete, in front of Amy's garden. While Shadow slowly brought the blade of the knife towards Amy's back, with her standing in front of him, having no idea what he was about to do to her, Tails ran over to the brick, picked it up and hurled it as hard as he could at the window.

The tip of the knife's blade was just touching the soft pink fur on Amy's back, and Shadow was just about to drive it into her flesh, when the brick smashed through the window, sending shards of glass flying everywhere, making both Shadow and Amy jump in fright. Amy opened her eyes just in time to see the brick, still flying through the air, hit Shadow around the side of his head. Shadow lurched to his side, crying out in pain, but at the same time, quickly the knife behind his back in case Amy saw it.

"What was that?!" Amy gasped in surprise.

Before Shadow could retort, Amy turned, and gasped in horror to see Tails jump angrily through the broken window and run up towards Shadow, pushing him against the wall with his arm against his neck.

"Tails?!" Amy cried in terror.

Shadow merely sneered. "Come to kill again, have you, Tails?! Well, you won't have any luck against me! If you come quietly to the police station, I won't hurt-"

"Amy!" cried Tails, turning frantically to Amy and pointing at Shadow. "It was Shadow!"

"What?!" Amy retorted, looking puzzled.

Shadow pretended to look puzzled too. "Er, yes, Tails. What was me? What do you mean?"

Tails scowled at Shadow. "You know exactly what I mean...killer!"

Amy gasped, horrified. Shadow continued to pretend to look puzzled. Tails turned to Amy again and nodded. "That's right, Amy! It was Shadow!" Tails turned back to Shadow and pushed his arm further against his neck. "He killed Sonic! Not me!"

Shadow snickered darkly. "Oh, Tails-"

"It's true!" Tails turned back towards Amy. She looked as if she didn't know whether to believe him or not. "He killed Sonic and framed _me_! And he was going to kill you just now!"

Amy looked up at Shadow. Shadow snickered again. "Oh, Tails, we all know it was you, so stop trying to put the blame on other people. I would never kill Sonic or Amy-"

"Then explain what you were doing with this!" Tails reached out for Shadow's hand, which was still behind his back, and pulled it out. Amy instantly saw the knife and screamed. Shadow just took a glance at it and frowned. "That doesn't prove anything! Like I said, I would never kill Sonic or Amy-"

"Then swear on Maria's soul!" Tails yelled.

Shadow's expression immediately changed to a shocked one. Tails sneered triumphantly. He knew he had just gotten to shadow's weakness. Amy had stopped screaming, but was looking at Shadow, a little afraid.

Shadow then glared angrily at Tails and grabbed the white fur on his chest. "Don't you dare!" he hissed. "Don't you _dare _bring Maria into this! Just because one of my friends is dead, doesn't mean I'm responsible for the death of your's!"

"Then, do it!" shouted Tails furiously. "If you really didn't kill Sonic, frame me or try to kill Amy, you'll swear on the soul of your dearest friend!"

Shadow went back to looking shocked. He began constantly gasping and let go of Tails. Amy looked at how Shadow was acting and clasped her hands to her mouth, realising the truth."

Finally, Shadow frowned at her. "Alright...it was me...I did it...I killed Sonic!"

Amy then began constantly gasping in heartbreak and horror, unable to take in what she was hearing. Tails took his arm away from Shadow's neck and grinned triumphantly. Shadow watched Amy gasping, still frowning.

Then Amy suddenly ran up to Shadow and slapped him hard across the face. Shadow cried out in pain and surprise, rubbing his cheek where she had hit him. And continued to gasp in sadness. "_WHY?!_"

"Because, Amy...I hated him. I absolutely hated him. Always boasting about being the fastest thing alive, being a hero, always saving the day. I couldn't stand him. So...I killed him." Shadow raised the knife above his head, his eyes glistening evilly. "And now, Amy...I'm going to kill you too."

Amy looked up at Shadow, her eyes full of hurt and terror. Then suddenly, Tails jumped in between the two hedgehogs, facing Shadow, his arms spread out. "You'll have to kill me first!"

Shadow laughed loudly and sinisterly. "Oh, protecting Amy in the same way you protected your precious little plant from me?! Very well, Tails! Don't worry! I certainly will kill you first!" Then Shadow suddenly brought the knife down quickly. The side of the blade quickly scraped past Tails' right arm. Tails cried out and held onto his right arm. The blade had left a large cut, from which, blood was leaking out.

Tails looked up from his arm and looked up at Shadow, to find him raising the blade up again, smiling evilly. Before he could bring the blade down again, Tails suddenly lashed out with his left arm, his fist hitting Shadow in the left eye.

Shadow cried out and dropped the knife, which fell onto the carpet. As Shadow clutched his eye, Tails bent down, grabbed the knife, jumped out through the broken window and ran as fast as he could down the street. Shadow took his hands away from his eye, growled, jumped out of the window and ran after Tails, leaving Amy alone in the house in fear.

Tails heard Shadow running behind him, knowing he wouldn't stop until he had caught up with him and finished him off. Tails tried to twist his tails around one another to try to fly, but the tail which had been shot the day before was numb and still in no flying shape all Tails could do was run.

It wasn't good enough for him as Shadow quickly caught up with him and grabbed his tails, stopping him from going anywhere. Tails raised up the knife up, with the handle facing down, and brought it down on Shadow's head.

While hitting Shadow with the handle did cause him to wince in pain, it also caused the knife to fly out of Tails' hand and land on the concrete floor. Shadow let go of Tails' tails and they both dove for the knife. Shadow got it first, quickly stood up and while Tails was still skidding front down along the floor from diving for the knife, Shadow whipped the weapon around Tails' tails, trying to cut them. However, he only managed to cut a bit of fur off them.

Tails stopped skidding and quickly rolled onto his back. He kicked out at Shadow's legs. Shadow cried out and crumpled to the ground, but held onto the knife.

Tails turned and spotted a tree nearby. He ran up to it and looked up it. It lowest branch wasn't every high, but with a jump, he managed to grab onto it. He climbed on and began climbing up the branches until he was hidden in the leaves. Then he sat down, facing the edge of the branch he was on, and listened.

For quite a while, there was silence. Tails couldn't hear Shadow climbing the tree. He wondered if Shadow hadn't seen him go up the tree and that he had escaped. Then he wondered if Shadow had turned back to Amy's house and tried to kill her again. "I'd better go back and protect her!"

So Tails turned around, and there, standing over him, knife in hand, smiling evilly, was Shadow.

He did nothing for a moment, expect stand still where he was, enjoying the fear all over Tails' face. Then suddenly, he quickly whipped the knife round, the end of its blade cutting across Tails' stomach.

Tails cried out and clutched his stomach, his face wincing in pain. He took his hands away, to find them soaked in blood. The knife had left a large cut in Tails' stomach, like in his arm, from which blood was leaking out fast. Tails felt himself going weak and his vision started to black. It felt as though his time was now up.

Shadow sneered at the weak fox. "It's over, Tails. You're finished. And you know what? I really enjoyed killing you. Same as how I enjoyed killing your best friend. I would have enjoyed killing your girlfriend too - but your spared me the bother." Shadow laughed loudly. "You know, I really can't believe you did that. Killed the one you loved. Guess what I made everyone think you are was true all along, Tails. You really are a killer!"

"I..." Tails replied hoarsly, feeling weaker, but angrier by each second, "am not_...a killer_!!!"

With his remaining strength,Tails shot to his feet and grabbed the fur on Shadow's chest. Then he felt his energy leave him and fell to his side - still holding onto Shadow. Shadow cried out and dropped the knife, which landed on the branch, as he was pulled off the branch by Tails and found himself falling towards the ground below. As they fell, Tails let go off Shadow. His eyes were half closed and he didn't have the energy to scream. But Shadow let out a huge scream, which was soon cut off as they both hit the ground hard, landing side by side on their backs, with two dull thuds.

Shadow lay where he was, gasping from pain and shock, his eyelids rapidly fluttering. Tails, however, slowly closed his eyes and his body went limp. The only movement coming from his was the blood leaking out of his wounds.

Above them, the knife lay for a few seconds on the branch where they had fallen from. Then a gust of wind blew it off the branch. It was falling towards Shadow, its blade pointing down.

Shadow saw it falling towards him and began to scream again - but was cut off as this blade of the knife fell into his chest. Shadow felt a stabbing pain as blood leaked out. He felt himself go weaker and weaker, until at last, his head passed to the side and his eyes closed. But even now, he still appeared to have more life in him than Tails appeared to have.

At that moment, Amy came running up, calling out for Tails. As soon as she saw the two fallen bodies, she clasped her hand to her mouth. She was horrified at Tails only though. She didn't care about Shadow. "Oh no!" She cried, falling to her knees, tears forming her eyes. "No, no, please, no." There was nothing she could do except sob softly into her palms.

She looked up after a while and looked towards Tails' fallen body. She crawled over to him and cradled his head in her arms, beginning to sob softly again. She felt very ashamed of blaming him on Sonic's death, and wanting nothing more for him to suffer for the rest of his life, when all the time, he was innocent.

"Tails...I'm so sorry."

But these words made her feel worse. It appeared to her that it was to late to be sorry. For Tails, who had been suffering miserably for a long time for things that were no fault of his own, seemed to had gone to join Sonic.

* * *

**Has he though? I'm not saying. There's one more chapter to go, which I can't reveal, obviously. You'll find out soon enough though if the end of the story is as sad as the start. ;)**

**I hope the battle scene was good enough for you're liking. As I said before, battle scenes are something I'm not good at.**

**Well, that's another chapter. And the next one is the final one. Stay tuned to find out the happy or sad ending of "Heads or Tails".**


	19. Chapter 19

**Here we go, guys. Here is the final chapter. :) Written a bit earlier than I was planning, but thought I'd get it done, so that I can start some new stories.**

**So, hope you enjoy this last chapter, where all the suspense ends. Let's find out if Tails lives or dies, and if the ending is happy or sad...**

* * *

Shadow slowly opened his eyes.

He immediately had to put up a hand to protect his face, as he was blinded by a bright white light. When he lowered his hand and opened his eyes again, he found himself lying on his back in an atmosphere, made up of nothing but bright white light. He appeared to be floating on thin air. The pain in his chest was gone. Confused, Shadow tried to stand up, but he felt too weak, as if he only had a short amount of energy.

Shadow lay where he was for a moment, wondering what was happening and what was going to happen.

And then, he saw, up ahead, floating down towards him, a human girl, which made him gasp.

She came floating down and stopped a few feet away from him. He took in all her features, which made him unable to believe who he was seeing. The girl had long blond hair, in which she wore a blue hairband. She was dressed in blue and she was looking at Shadow with sad blue eyes.

Shadow, still unable to believe it, reached out a hand to try to touch the girl, but she was out of his reach. He blinked and shook his head, then he beamed happily. "Maria!"

Maria continued to look down at Shadow, then said in a quiet and sad voice, "Shadow...why have you done this?"

"Huh?" Shadow's smile faded and his beaming expression changed to a puzzled one. He hadn't expected Maria to greet him like that.

"I wanted you to make friends...not kill innocent souls."

Shadow blinked and continued to look puzzled at Maria, then he smiled and shook his head. "It doesn't matter, Maria. I don't want new friends. All I want is to be with you. And now, I can be..."

"I'm sorry, Shadow," Maria apologised quietly. "But you cannot."

"What?" Shadow cried in despair.

"You have turned into someone I do not know; a killer. You are not the same hedgehog that was my friend. You have done terrible things. I am sorry Shadow, but you cannot be with me...ever. You must suffer for your actions...for ever."

"Maria...!"

Maria began to slowly fade away, and as she did, she called out one last time to Shadow.

"Syranora...Shadow the killer."

With that, Maria faded away completely. Shadow continued to call out for her. Then suddenly, he felt himself beginning to fall backwards. As he fell, he continued to call out to Maria, but received no response. Then, the white atmosphere turned into a black one. Shadow called out one final time, before his vision faded into blackness and he fell as silent as his black surroundings.

"_MARIA...!_"

* * *

Amy continued to weep softly over Tails' body. Blood was still leaking out of the wounds Shadow had put into his body, but he lay still, not seeming to feel any pain from the wounds, or being able to hear Amy crying over him.

Amy wiped her eyes and looked at his face. Despite the wounds, after everything she had put him through for a crime which was not his fault, Tails looked peaceful. The fear and sadness that had been on his face, caused by the terrifying and upsetting time he had been though, had faded away. It now looked as if he was only sleeping. How Amy wished that were the case. She hated herself for giving Tails a terrible time, running for his life and freedom, for something that was all down to Shadow. Amy had no idea right now how she had possibly let herself believe that this fox, who had been kind and gentle, and who had just saved her life, was sly and cunning, like other foxes, and was a cold-blooded killer, responsible for the death of the one she loved, when in fact, that loved one was his best friend, who he wouldn't dream of killing. All the time, the killer had been someone who she had trusted, who thought cared about and who she thought she might have started to have feelings for. But that individual had been planning to kill her. He had killed the one she loved and led her to think that the fox was to blame, when in fact, all the fox had been doing was suffering from a broken heart.

And right now, Amy was suffering the same way he had been. Her heart was ripped to pieces. Shadow had tried to take her life, and instead, he had taken Tails', because the brave little fox had tried to save her. After the way she had treated him, Amy felt as though she did not deserve to live. Now that her life was spared, innocent Tails' was lost.

Amy had not felt so weaker. Not even all the times Eggman had kidnapped her had made her feel as helpless as she was feeling now. The grief was taking over her, as if deep inside, Shadow had killed her. There was nothing she could do, except hold Tails' body and weep.

"I'm so s-s-orry, Tails...for everything I've p-put you through. I know now you d-d-didn't k-k-kill Sonic. But it's too late...you're d-d-dead now." Amy let out a huge sob. "You did not deserve to die. Shadow sh-should have killed me. I do n-n-n-not deserve to live. Not after everything I put you through." Amy hugged Tails closer to her and continued to sob, letting the tears leak out of her sparkling green eyes and fall freely down her cheeks. "I'm sorry, Tails."

"Uh..."

Amy's heart. Her teary eyes widened. She had heard what had sounded like a groan, and it had sounded like it had come from Tails. She pulled his motionless bleeding body away from her a little bit and kept her eyes fixed on him, her heart beating fast. Then, sure enough, the little fox's eyes slowly opened - making her gasp in disbelief - and turned onto her. Tails looked at Amy with a dazed expression - his mouth hanging open and eyes half closed - while she continued to stare in disbelief. Finally, Tails' mouth curled turned into a smile. "Hi...Amy."

"Tails...you're alive!"

Amy was about to hug him tight, when she looked at the bleeding wounds, horrified. If she didn't do something quick, she would certainly lose Tails. She gently lowered him down to the ground until he was lying on his back on the ground again. "I'll be right back! Don't worry, Tails!"

She hurried away towards her house. Tails lay where he was, next to Shadow's body. He was losing blood fast, but for some reason, he was smiling. Somehow, he felt like everything was going to be alright now.

Amy hurried back, carrying a first-aid box. She got down on her knees beside Tails and opened the box. She pulled out a large roll of bandages. She unravel some of the white material off the roll and pulled it away from the rest. She asked Tails to sit up, and he managed to do so, with a bit of difficulty, still feeling a bit weak. Amy wrapped the bandage firmly around his abdomen, covering the bleeding cut which Shadow had caused. Next, Amy took some more bandage off the roll and wrapped it around Tails' right arm, which Shadow had weakened earlier by quickly drawing the knife across, causing a cut which was bleeding. but the blood was quickly prevented from leaking when it was covered up by bandage.

After Amy finished nursing Tails' wounds, she helped him to his feet. "Are you alright, Tails?"

"Yeah," Tails replied hoarsely, still smiling weakly. "I'm fine, Amy."

Amy looked at the injured fox which stood before her, smiling at her. Then she suddenly threw her arms around him and began weeping again.

Tails, taken by surprise, hugged her back. "Hey, don't cry, Amy. I'm still alive."

Amy looked miserably at Tails, her tears leaking fast. "Oh, Tails...I'm so sorry that I've made your life a misery these past few days. I've been trying to make you suffer." She shook her head frantically, sniffing. "But you didn't deserve to suffer. You're a good-hearted guy. you always have been...and I thought you were a cold-blooded killer. But I know now that you aren't. I was wrong about you...and I've treated you so horribly..."

Amy continued to weep hard on Tails' shoulder. Tails ran his fingers along her soft back. "It's okay, Amy-"

"No it isn't!" Amy's teary green eyes looked into Tails' tired blue ones. "You nearly died just now...because you tried to save me! You shouldn't have, Tails. Not after the way I've treated you. You should have just let Shadow kill me. I don't deserve to live."

"Hey, don't say that!" yelled Tails firmly. He placed his hands on Amy's shoulders and looked into her forcefully into her eyes. "I couldn't let Shadow kill you! And don't go saying you shouldn't be aloud to live! Sonic shouldn't want you saying that!"

Then Tails' expression to one of realisation, as he suddenly remembered. "Oh, that reminds me. C'mon, Amy!" And Tails grabbed Amy's hand and began pulling her hasily down the street.

"Um, Tails," said Amy in puzzlement, as she was pulled along. "Where are we going?"

"To see someone." Tails looked back at her and winked, before looking straight ahead again, as he walked quickly down the street. Amy followed along, her hand in Tails', feeling puzzled.

* * *

Forty-five minutes later, Tails found himself with Amy in the grasslands he had been to earlier that night. They were standing in the same position that Tails had stood in earlier. Tails was waiting with an excited expression.

Amy, however, was waiting with puzzled expression. "Um, Tails...there's nobody here."

"They'll be here," retorted Tails excitedly. "I'm sure they'll come soon."

They waited for ten minutes, but nobody came. It was then Tails' turn to be puzzled.

"Listen, Tails," said Amy kindly. "Nobody would be coming to see us this time of the night."

"But-"

"I think you're just tired, after running away from all of us for the past few days. Come on. I'll take you home and you can get some sleep." Amy turned around and began to walk away.

"Oh, and I thought you'd wait for ever to see _me_, Amy."

Amy froze. A shiver ran up her spine. She, like Tails, had just heard a voice which thought she's never hear again. The voice of her hero.

She turned around to see Tails smiling at her. She walked back to where he was standing, looking out into the miles of grassland. And then, in front of her, from out of nowhere, Sonic faded in. "Hi, Amy!"

Amy's eyes widened when she saw Sonic. It didn't take her long to gasp that he was a ghost. She raised a hand and pointed at him. "S...S...Sonic."

Then she fell to her knees and began sobbing again.

"Don't cry, Amy," said Sonic softly.

"I can't h-help it, Sonic! You should be here! With me! Alive!"

Sonic took a few steps towards her. Amy looked up at the ghost of her loved one. Sonic smiled warmly at her. "Don't worry. I'll be with you again."

"Huh?"

"Everyone faces death. You can't avoid it. It'll come to you, and you never no when. But it is not what people make it out to be. It is not something to be frightened of. It is everlasting peace. One of the reasons for this is being with your loved ones again. One day, Amy, you and everyone else will face it, and you will be with me again. We will all be together again. And all evil creatures, like Shadow, Eggman and Dark Oak, don't join us when they die. They go elsewhere, where they get no peace. We will all be together...living for ever."

Amy had stopped sobbing to listen to these words. She smiled at Sonic and a single tear escaped her eye.

"But until then, Amy," Sonic continued earnestly, "I want you to live a long happy life. I know I cannot be there with you. But please do it for me."

Amy sniffed and nodded. "I promise, Sonic."

"That's good." Sonic turned to Tails, still smiling. "Tails, keep an eye on her for me, will ya, pal?!"

"I sure will, Sonic." Tails placed a hand on Amy's back and smiled at her. Amy smiled back at him.

"Thanks, buddy." Sonic waved a hand. "Well, until we meet again, have a lovely life, guys."

"Okay, Sonic." Amy raised and hand too. "Goodbye, Sonic."

"Goodbye, Sonic," added Tails, smiling sadly. "We'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too. But we'll see each other again. Until then, goodbye, Tails." Sonic began to fade away. "Goodbye, Amy...I love you..."

At these final three words, Amy's eyes widened in surprise. Never had she expect Sonic to say these three words to her, meaning that he felt the same way as her. But before she could reply, Sonic had had faded completely away. Amy smiled and wiped her eye. "I love you too, Sonic."

Tails looked at her with concern and rubbed her back. "Are you okay, Amy?"

Amy took her hand away from her eye, sniffed and smiled at Tails. "I'll be fine. Don't worry, Tails. Like Sonic said; we'll all be together again...for ever." She turned around and began walking up the short slope behind her, but then looked over her shoulder at Tails. "Are you coming, Tails?"

Tails looked out ahead of him. "I'd like to wait here for a while...alone."

Okay. I'll be waiting for you at the edge of the grasslands. Take your time." And still smiling at him, Amy walked away. Tails looked out ahead of him. He didn't really want to be alone. He was hoping that someone would be joining him soon.

And sure enough, to his happiness, Cosmo faded into view, standing in front of him, smiling at him. "Well done, Tails. You saved Amy."

"Thank you, Cosmo," Tails smiled back.

"You have such a big heart. Risking your own life to save Amy from Shadow...the same as how you saved me from him." Cosmo began to look a little nervous. Tails wondered why, but still smiling, Cosmo continued to speak. "You're the most selfless creature I know, Tails. Always setting your own safety aside to keep others safe."

Cosmo paused, took a deep breath, then said, "That's one of the many reasons why...I love you."

Tails' jaw dropped. He couldn't believe his ears. "You...you..."

"That's right, Tails," smiled Cosmo shyly. "I love you."

"I...I...I love you, Cosmo."

Cosmo gasped in surprise, also unable to believe what she was hearing. She had always thought she was worthless and that no one wanted her around. But she had just been proved wrong, for someone who she cared about dearly, loved her.

Tails stared down at the ground, looking sad. "You should be here, Cosmo...with me."

"Oh, Tails," Cosmo smiled sadly. "Don't worry. We'll be together again, like Sonic said. And when we're together, nothing can take us away from each other. We'll be together...for ever."

"Okay, Cosmo," smiled Tails, feeling a little better.

"I'd kiss you now, but being a ghost I can. But when you come to join me, I'll be giving you plenty. By then, I'll be so happy to see you again. Until then..." Cosmo raised a hand, smiling. "Goodbye, Tails. I love you."

"Goodbye, Cosmo...I love you too." Tails raised a hand, and then, smiling both happily and sadly, he watched as Cosmo, the one he loved, faded away, never to be seen again - until it was time for Tails to join her.

Then, turning around, Tails went to join Amy.

* * *

As they walked back though the village, Tails and Amy came to where Shadow's dead body was lying, the knife stick sticking out of his chest. Tails, disgusted by the sight of it, looked away and attempted to keep on walking. But Amy stopped by it, went down on her knees and took hold of the knife's handle.

"What are you doing?" asked Tails, not wanting to be anywhere near the corpse.

With an effort, Amy putted the knife clear of Shadow's chest. Blood dripped from the blade. "Tomorrow, I'm taking this knife down to the police station. I'll tell the police that Shadow was the killer and that he tried to kill me."

"Are you sure they'll believe you?" asked Tails worriedly. "I mean, it has Shadow's blood on it, as well as Sonic's. They may still think I'm the killer, and that I killed Shadow."

"I'm sure they'll believe me, since I was the real killer's victim, so I would know." Amy looked shamefully down at her feet. "Though not as much a victim as I made you."

"Hey, c'mon now," replied Tails comfortingly. He put a hand on Amy's shoulder and smiled warmly at her. "We were both victims as much as one another. This is nobody's fault, but Shadow's. And now that's he's dead, I'm sure he isn't getting peace, like Sonic and Cosmo are. I bet he's spending eternity suffering for his evil actions."

"I supose you're right." Amy smiled back at Tails. "This time tomorrow, the headlines will be "Innocent", and the story will be about how you, Tails, are innocent. And if the others don't believe it and try to attack you, they'll have to get past me. Although I don't know how I'll manage to without my hammer." She gave Tails a firm look. "You shouldn't have broken my hammer, Tails. You may be innocent for the crime I thought you were guilty for. But for breaking my precious hammer, I'd hit you with it - if you hadn't broke it."

"Oh, sorry about that, Amy!" Tails replied shamefully and worriedly.

Amy giggled and nudged him playfully. "I'm just kidding, Tails."

Tails breathed a sigh of relief and shared a giggle with Amy. It was then they realised that they were standing outside Amy's house. Tails looked shamefully at the broken window. "Um, sorry about smashing the window, Amy."

"Aww, don't worry about it, Tails. If you hadn't done it, Shadow would have killed me. I don't think any more killers will be breaking in."

"Oh, okay then." Tails raised a hand. "Well, goodbye then."

"Um, listen, Tails...why don't you spend the night at my place? The police have destroyed everything in your own house, including your bed."

"Oh, that's okay. I'll sleep on the floor."

"Don't be silly, Tails."

"No, really, Amy, it's fine. I've been sleeping on floors and lumpy couches for the past few days-"

"Well, that's all the more reason why you should sleep at my place. You can sleep in my bed. I bet it's been far too long since you had a decent night's sleep in a nice warm bed. C'mon."

And before Tails could protest, Amy grabbed his hand and pulled him up to the front door, took out a key, unlocked the door and disappeared inside with Tails in tow.

She led him up the stairs to her bedroom and pointed at the bed, which Tails welcomed the sight of, but was still reluctant to sleep in. He turned to Amy. "Where will you sleep?"

"On the couch," replied Amy, smiling.

"Oh no, Amy. You have your bed. I can sleep in the floor in my house."

"No, Tails, it's fine. You can have my bed. It's the least I can do for you after you saved my life." Amy looked down at her feet, feeling very ashamed. "And for the way I've treated you."

"It's okay, Amy," smiled Tails, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I forgive you."

Amy smiled back. Of all the foxes in the entire universe, she felt very lucky to be friends with this kind and gentle fox, who was willing to forgive her after the way she treated him and the terrible time she had giving him. Amy felt very happy to have met Tails. She pulled him into a warm hug. "Thank you, Tails. I can clearly tell why Sonic and Cosmo like you so much."

"Thanks, Amy. They're my best friends." Tails embraced Amy back. "And so are you."

"Really? Oh, thank you, Tails. You're one of my best friends too." Amy broke the hug, but continued to look at Tails. Then she walked towards the bedroom door and opened it, but looked back over her shoulder at Tails. "Goodnight, Tails."

"Goodnight, Amy." Tails smiled at Amy and watched her until she closed the bedroom door. Then, still smiling, he climbed into Amy's bed, and had the first pleasant sleep he had had in a long time. He slept all through the night, dreaming of being with Cosmo, Sonic, Amy and all their friends in the afterlife. He was looking forward to having all his friends together again, but that would have to wait. Until then, Tails would be getting on a new, long and happy life.

* * *

**Well, everybody, that's the happy ending of "Heads or Tails". :) Well, I think you can call this happy, since Tails, Amy, Sonic and Cosmo have a happy ending, despite everything that's happened. Same can't be said for Shadow, but does he deserve one? No. :P**

**Now that we are at the end, I wanna give a massive thank you to everyone who has read, enjoyed and left kind feedback on this: my first ever Sonic story. I had no idea that the story turned out to be successful as it is, especially since I killed Sonic at the start. Rest assured, I most likely won't be doing that again. :P This story is an example of what I don't usually write. But I just came up with the story with inspiration from a movie and a video game, and decided to go ahead and write, rather than keep it in my head, where only I know it. And I'm glad I did that, because you guys have left such kind feedback. So a massive thanks to you all. It really means a lot. Without you, the story would have been wirth writing. :D**

**Will I ever write more Sonic stories? You bet I will? ;) I have quite a few ideas for stories I'm planning on writing. Most of these, like this story, focus on Tails, but also, Cosmo. Taismo stories are my favourite kind of Sonic stories. Even though there was Taismo in this, I'm glad I decided to get this story written first, so I can now do ones where Cosmo appears throughout the whole story, instead of just certain parts. I also wouldn't mind writing some SonAmy stories, or stories which, like this one, contain more action than romance. It'll be a little while before I write my next Sonic stories, as there's a few stories for other things I like that I wanna get written. But it shouldn't be too long, since these next few stories are all oneshots. I'm looking forward to writing my Taismo stories.**

**Right, wel, that's all I gotta say, except for, once again, thank you all so much for being so loyal to my first Sonic story, and making it, as successful as it is. :D**

**Alex, aka, Dreamer Boy, out.**


End file.
